Islamic officials today said that they believe that an attack on an Islamic school in Australia and the home of a Muslim leader was vengeance for the deaths in the bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Several windows and walls of the King Abdul Aziz Islamic School and the adjoining mosque and Muslim leader's residence in western Sydney were damaged early yesterday morning.
Police said the attack, believed to have been carried out by two men, was not being treated as a hate crime.
But the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said today that it believed the attack was motivated by religious intolerance, and was carried out by people seeking retribution for the deaths of Australians in Bali.
Australia is expected to have the highest number of victims in the massive explosion that ripped through a nightclub popular with foreign tourists in the beachside Bali resort of Kuta on Saturday, killing at least 180 people.
Australian government officials said 30 Australians have been confirmed among the dead, but more than 180 remain unaccounted for.
The Australian government has said there is strong evidence to suggest the attack was the work of the Southeast Asian Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday there was also evidence that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network was involved.
"Without a shadow of a doubt this attack (in Sydney) was motivated by hate, probably of religion more than race," Australian Federation of Islamic Councils spokesman Kuranda Seyit said.
"This is what we call the backlash that tends to happen after every world event involving allegations that Muslims were involved."
Mr Seyit also said that more than 20 men had attacked the buildings with poles, broken chairs and beer bottles.
He said officials expected the backlash to continue and that mosques and Islamic schools in Australia were taking additional security precautions.