Pakistani Muslims shout 'down with America, down with Bush' as they burn an efigy of Bush during a rally held Against the U.S. led war on Iraq

ISLAMABAD, March 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The launch of war against Iraq justifies a holy war against America but not the West as a whole, Pakistani Islamic leaders decreed Thursday, March 20, after U.S. warplanes attacked Baghdad.

"America has signed its own death warrant," declared Maulana Fazlur Rehman, secretary general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of six Islamic parties.

"Now jihad (holy war) is justified, but it should be jihad against American oppression and not against the Western world," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

MMA Senator Khurshid Ahmed, vice president of the hardline Jamaat-i-Islami party, condemned the US airstrikes as "sheer colonial invasion."

"It is horrendous, it is disastrous, it is the beginning of the end of American imperialism," Ahmed told AFP.

"America now stands naked," he said referring to U.S. statements that its forces would enter Iraq whether or not Saddam followed their orders to head into exile.

The MMA, which holds almost one fifth of national assembly seats, has campaigned fervently against a US-led war on Iraq, leading two of the biggest rallies ever seen in Pakistan when they brought 300,000 people on to the streets in Karachi and Rawalpindi earlier this month.

Ahmed said Islamists would express their outrage in protests.

"We don't believe in violence, but short of that we will protest against, condemn, pray and hope that world opinion does not ignore this invasion."

Rehman urged the international community to react immediately to stop the "naked American aggression."

"The international community now faces a grave challenge and it must act to meet this, otherwise no one will remain safe in the world," he said.

"This attack is a war against humanity.

Rehman heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party which led violent protests against US-led military strikes in neighbouring Afghanistan in late 2001.

A massive Islamist-led rally will be held in Lahore on Sunday.

Protests by secular pacifists are scheduled in all major cities later Thursday.

Indonesian Muslim Leaders React Angrily To Start Of War

In Jakarta, moderate and radical Indonesian Muslim leaders reacted angrily Thursday to the start of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Syafii Ma'arif, the chairman of the second largest mainstream Muslim group Muhammadiyah, described the U.S. attack as a savage war.

"I am not a defender of Saddam Hussein but I strongly wonder what right does Bush have to expel a man from his own country?" Ma'arif told AFP.

He agreed that Saddam should be replaced but "not through the means of war."

Ma'arif, whose group claims a membership of 30 million, described Bush as "a paranoid leader."

The cabinet of the world's largest Muslim-populated nation was holding a special meeting and was due to issue a statement on Iraq. The government has previously condemned any unilateral attack and called for diplomacy to be given more time.

"The attack now clearly shows the world who the real terrorist is," said Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, spokesman for the Hizbut Tahrir radical Muslim group.

"We call on all countries and their leaders to declare Bush as a terrorist and as a war criminal," he said.

The group plans to hold its first mass protest later Thursday, he said, giving no details.

In a statement the group said that by attacking Iraq the U.S. has declared war against Muslims worldwide. It called on Muslims across the world to launch a jihad (holy war or struggle) to "defend the dignity of a Muslim country and its people."

Hizbut Tahrir said the U.S. justification for the attack "is a mere diversion to cover up the real evil intention of the United States, that is to control the Iraqi oilfields and spread its economic and political dominance in that region."

Police have stepped up security at the embassies of the United States and its allies as well as at shopping malls and other locations.

The British embassy warned that terrorists may take advantage of the situation to launch an attack against Westerners in Indonesia.

The embassy advised the estimated 4,000 Britons in the country to consider leaving and said those who stay should exercise extreme caution.

"It is likely that extremists will harass Westerners in bars and nightclubs frequented by foreigners. You should avoid these establishments," the embassy said.

An Islamic youth group called Anshor has threatened to force U.S. and allied diplomats to leave Indonesia if war breaks out. The movement has also threatened to try to close down all American companies operating in the country.

Iran condemns U.S. attack on Iraq

Meanwhile, Iran on Thursday called the U.S. attack on Iraq "unjustifiable and illegitimate" but said it would not take sides in the conflict.

"The American military operations against Iraq are unjustifiable and illegitimate," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said in a statement.

He added: "The Islamic republic will not intervene in favor of one side of another."

Iran was last year designated by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea.

Iran also fought a bloody war from 1980 to 1988 with Iraq under Saddam Hussein, whom the United States wants to oust from power.