(AFP) Americans were under police protection in Malaysia today as the Islamic opposition party labelled them "war criminals" and appeared to back calls for holy war after the US-led strikes in Afghanistan.

The president of the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), Fadzil Noor, said the attacks were not only against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers but were a direct assault on Muslims.

"America attacked a small and defenceless country like Afghanistan without showing the world strong reason or proof, they are war criminals," he told AFP .

"If the US are really waging a war against terrorism, why don't they attack Israel, who are terrorists against the Palestinians?

Attacks condemned

"This proves they are not fighting terrorism, they are fighting the Taliban who are Muslims."

When asked about renewed calls for jihad following the attacks, Fadzil said "all Muslims must oppose these criminals - this time, there is no denying a call for jihad".

However, the opposition leader declined to elaborate, saying that all his party could do at the moment was condemn the attacks.

"If we hold anti-war demonstrations now, the government who is supporting the US will attack us," he said.

The US embassy earlier issued a statement saying police were protecting the embassy compound in Kuala Lumpur and patrolling areas with communities of Americans and other foreigners.

"They have assured us that they will continue to protect Americans and everyone else in Malaysia," the embassy said in a statement.

It said the United States was "aware of no specific threat at this time against American interests in Malaysia, private or public."

The embassy was closed today for the Columbus Day holiday, and US citizens were urged to monitor the embassy's website for the latest information.

Situation being monitored

The government of Muslim-majority Malaysia reacted cautiously early Monday to news of the strikes on Afghanistan for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, prime suspects in the terror attacks on New York and Washington on Sept 11.

Foreign ministry secretary general Aahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak told AFP : "We will make a statement when appropriate. We are monitoring the situation. We will see how things develop."

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeatedly condemned the attacks on the US, but has opposed a war against Afghanistan in retaliation.

He has said this would simply cause more casualties without addressing the fundamental causes of terrorism such as the "oppression" of Muslims in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Chechnya.

A senior aide to the prime minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Malaysia's stand is that if the attacks target specifically Osama bin Laden then they are acceptable, but not a widespread strike that will cause civilian casualties."