ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: The South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) on Friday condemned the gruesome murder of 11 Nepalese workers in Iraq and sympathized with the bereaved families.

Secretary General of Safma, Imtiaz Alam, and all the office- bearers of the regional media body expressed their shock over the killing of the Nepalese workers.

They said the murder of the foreign workers including those from Islamic countries like Pakistan could only serve the cause of the occupation forces and not that of the Iraqis, who had already been devastated by the ongoing war.

However, they stressed that the issue should not be used as a bone of contention between the followers of different religions as all religions condemned killing of innocent people and terrorism.

Praising the long secular tradition of the people of Nepal, they said, it was unfortunate that public sentiments were misdirected by some miscreants against a mosque and the offices of two airlines after the incident took place.