Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today that Malaysia still intends to send medical volunteers to Iraq although Islamic militants there have placed Malaysia in their list of enemies.

He said he could not understand why the militants who called themselves champions of Islam were causing hardship to the people of Iraq, Islam and other Muslim countries.

"We will send...depending on the security situation. There are groups in Iraq who are saying that the situation there is not as bad as what is being portrayed, but we will be careful," he told a media conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Foreign news agencies recently reported that Iraqi militants were against plans by Islamic countries to interfere in the peace process there and had listed Malaysia as one of the countries that they would fight against after the government announced it would send medical volunteers to Iraq.

Pakistanis killed

The militant group proved that they were serious about their threat last night by killing two Pakistan nationals, Sajid Naem and Azad Hussein Khan.

Acording to a Bernama report, Syed Hamid said the situation in Iraq was still bad and there was no indication that the situation would improve in the near future.

He also stressed Malaysia's stand that it would not send a peace mission there because Iraq's neighbours would be better suited for the role.

Malaysia, with its expertise in road construction, telecommunications and petroleum hoped to participate in the development of Iraq but the situation there at the moment was not peaceful, the foreign minister added.