RIYADH, Jan 15: Egypt's top Sunni scholar has condemned the killing of innocent Iraqis who cooperate with United States forces but stopped short of criticising attacks on American troops.

"The destruction and the killing of officials in Iraq is a crime. It is not jihad," Grand Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi said in an interview with Saudi Arabia's Al-Riyadh newspaper published on Saturday.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks against Shia targets, election officials and Iraqi security forces to try to derail the Jan 30 polls but Tantawi reiterated his call for all Iraqis to vote despite the withdrawal of some Sunni parties.

Tantawi also said killings, car bombings and attacks on Iraqi property were sabotage and those who carry it out are terrorists who deserve to be killed. But he did not specifically condemn attacks on American forces.

"Those who fight the occupier, that is another matter which needs to be analysed. But those who kill innocent Iraqi civilians on the grounds that they cooperate with the occupation, that is a crime," said Tantawi. Egypt's al-Azhar mosque and university is one of the most respected institutions in Sunni Islam. -Reuters