Opposition Islamic party PAS youth leader Mahfuz Omar today said the United States could be behind the deadly Bali bomb blast in neighbouring Indonesia which killed more than 180 people, most of them Western tourists.

"The US will take the opportunity to get international sympathy from this bombing, saying that Muslims had committed the violence, hence the need to attack Iraq," he said in a statement.

"PAS does not deny the possibility the Bali bombing has direct links with the United States."

He said the West was trying to contain the growth of Islam in Southeast Asia and the bombing was an excuse to interfere in the security of the region and garner international support for US plans to attack Iraq and topple President Saddam Hussein. AFP