Malaysian police said Friday they had arrested seven more people over a spate of attacks on churches that have escalated ethnic tensions.The violence, which saw 11 churches and two Muslim prayer halls targeted, was triggered by a court ruling that overturned a government ban on non-Muslims using the word "Allah" as a translation for "God".
Earlier this week eight people were detained over the first of the attacks, on a church in suburban Kuala Lumpur.
The seven new accused were arrested in raids late Thursday and early Friday over firebombings of a church and a convent school in northern Perak state on January 10.
"They are being investigated for throwing Molotov cocktails at the All Saints' Church and the convent school in Taiping," a senior Perak police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the seven were all aged between 17 and 19.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multi-racial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
The row over the use of "Allah" is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Malays and minority ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being "Islamised."
The High Court last month ruled in favour of the Catholic Herald newspaper which has used "Allah" as a translation for "God" in its Malay-language section. The ruling was suspended pending an appeal.
The government has said the word should be used only by Muslims because it could cause confusion and even encourage conversions from Islam which is illegal in Malaysia.
Malaysia's population is 60 percent Muslim Malay, but also includes indigenous tribes as well as the large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities -- practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.
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SIC: AFP