The Barisan Alternatif (BA) today called for an immediate end to the United States-led military strikes against Afghanistan, asking the United Nations to intervene on the war.

In its joint statement, BA said the UN's credibility is at stake if it remains silent and allows itself to be sidelined.

"The United Nations should not sit by complacently while the US and its allies unleash their military might upon Afghanistan in clear violation of international law," read the statement signed by the head of the three remaining parties in the opposition coalition, PAS' Fadzil Noor, Keadilan's Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Parti Rakyat Malaysia's Dr Syed Husin Ali.

BA said those who have committed terrorist attacks should be brought to justice but it has to be done through non-violent means and in full accordance with international law.

"It is unfortunate that so little effort and emphasis have been given to non-violent means of addressing this crisis and that military action seems to have become the first rather than the last option," the statement said.

The BA, echoing the government's stand on this matter, stressed that there can be no military solution to the problem of terrorism and reiterated its earlier statement that terrorism must be dealt with by addressing the root causes of resentment, bitterness and hatred that exist in many parts of the world.

"In this connection, we strongly condemn the recent intensification of Israeli state terrorism over the land and people of Palestine. This state terror must be made to stop because it constitutes one of the root causes of international terrorism," it added.

According to The Sun today, Israeli troops have been moving into and around six Palestinian-ruled areas following the assassination of Israeli's former right-wing cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi on Oct 17.

More than 40 Palestinians, and an Israeli, have been killed since Zeevi's murder, which was carried out by the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to avenge the assassination of its leader by the Israelis.

Children and women

Yesterday, Israel postponed the withdrawal of its troops indefinitely from the West Bank because of continuous violence in the area.

BA also expressed its concern that the military campaign which is now entering its fourth week has resulted in the sharp increase in the civilian casualties.

"It is a most terrible injustice that civilians, especially women and children who have not had any hand in the terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, should have to pay for the violent crimes of others," it said.

As of yesterday, France-based news agency AFP had only been able to confirm about 27 civilian casualties in the Kabul area since the US-led military airstrikes against Afghanistan began on Oct 7.

AFP reported a US human rights group on Friday as saying that at least 23 civilians, most of them children, died when US bombs hit the remote village of Thori near a Taliban military base on Oct 21.

The youngest victim was eight months old, and 19 of the 23 victims were children, according to Human Rights Watch, which cited survivors recovering in a hospital in Quetta, near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

The village was struck at least three times when US warplanes apparently targetted the Taliban's Gar Mao military base about 1km away, the New York-based group said in a statement.

The Taliban claim that more than 1,000 civilians have died nationwide. This figure has been dismissed as propaganda by the United States and is impossible to verify.