Australian Muslims condemned on Sunday, September 11, terrorist attacks against civilians and pledged loyalty to the country, while accusing new anti-terror measures of fueling anti-Muslim hysteria.

“These were warriors from an Islamic background that hijacked Islam,” Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, told the National Security and Harmony Summit in Sydney University Sunday, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).

“They hijacked our lifestyle and our freedoms. And the spin machine of Western governments is exploiting these hijackers of Islam, these murderers.”

Australian Muslim leaders gathering for the meeting observed a minute of silence to remember the victims of 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, which claimed almost 3,000 lives.

Islam Online, 11 September 2005

See also ABC News, 11 September 2005