Skinheads attack Muslim worshippers

From correspondents in Moscow

October 16, 2005

SKINHEADS have attacked a Muslim prayer room near Moscow, the Council of Russian muftis said overnight.

Following Friday prayers, 10 youths with shaven heads and brandishing metal objects attacked worshippers in the only Muslim prayer room in the town of Serviev Posad, northeast of Moscow, Mufti council head Radik Amirov said.

"The skinheads beat up the faithful who were present as well as an inter-religious relations officer," who was taken to hospital and required stitches to a wound, Mr Amirov said.

The attackers reportedly yelled "Russia for Russians" and "there is no room for Muslims in Russia".

Mr Amirov denounced the violence and declared himself outraged by threats and similar acts carried out against Russia's Muslim population.

Sergiev Posad is a bastion of the Russian Orthodox church, the main religion in the country.

There are some 20 million Muslims in Russia, equally around one in seven residents.