South African Muslims start boycott to protest Iraq bombings

A coalition of Muslim organizations announced Friday that it plans a boycott of US and British products to protest the bombing of Iraq, press reports said.

The group, the Iraq Action Committee, said in a statement it was joining an international movement of protest actions.

Group spokesman Yusuf Saloojee said the Iraq bombing was a crime against humanity that needed to be stopped by a "culture of resistance."

The group called for a "united action of peace loving people internationally and within South Africa to condemn the unilateral bombing and massacre of the Iraqi people by the United States and Britain."

The United States and Britain carried out four days of airstrikes beginning Dec. 17, citing Iraq's refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors trying to verify Baghdad was not building weapons of mass destruction.