KUALA LUMPUR: A church in southern Malaysia has been vandalised, apparently the latest in a string of attacks on Christian houses of worship in this Muslim-majority nation, police said today.

Vandals also threw a rum bottle at a mosque in the first attack on a Muslim house of worship yesterday.

Eleven churches - as well as one Sikh temple - have been damaged since a court ruled late last month that non-Muslims can use the word Allah to refer to God. The decision angered many Muslims, who say the word is exclusive to their religion and its use by others could confuse Muslims into converting.

Officials at a church in southern Negeri Sembilan state found a window at their building smashed late yesterday, said Saiful Azly Kamaruddin, a district police chief. He said police were still investigating, but the attack appeared to be vandalism.

Earlier yesterday, police charged a Malaysian

student after allegedly

posting comments on Facebook about throwing a gasoline bomb.

Mohamad Tasyrif Tajudin, 25, allegedly wrote, “You want me to throw a petrol (gasoline) bomb there? We can negotiate the price” in a recent Facebook discussion over the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims. Many of the churches vandalised were hit by Molotov Cocktails.

Meanwhile, vandals threw a rum bottle at a mosque in the first attack on a Muslim house of worship after almost a dozen similar assaults on churches, police said today. Police have dismissed the attacks as vandalism.