THE American bombing of Afghanistan has been condemned by a meeting of more than 50 people in Burnley.

At the meeting speakers included Mohammed Arif and Tess McMahon, of the Burnley Socialist Alliance, Janet Swann of the East Lancs Green Party and John Baxter from the Socialist Worker.

They expressed sympathy for those who died in the attacks on September 11 but said the bombing of innocent Afghan civilians was not going to help.

Tess McMahon said the people being killed in Afghanistan, like the four UN aid workers hit when a missile hit their mine-clearing base, had nothing to do with the terrorist attack on New York.

And Mohammed Arif said: "People need to learn to live together. This could be a beautiful world but the richest nation attacking one of the poorest can only produce more bitterness aimed at the US. It is not surprising that many Muslims see the bombing as a war on Islam."

John Baxter said: "There is great sympathy, and rightly so, for the Americans who died on September 11, but what about those children who are dying every day because of the US-led sanctions against Iraq? There is not even media coverage of that."

The statement, agreed by the people attending the meeting reads: "The bombing of Afghanistan by the US and the UK is an act of international terrorism.

"It is already killing innocent people, making many people homeless and destabilising the whole region. One certain result will be that the US state is even more hated that it is already.

"The current war mongering has increased attacks on Arab, Muslim and black people in many western countries.

"We reject Bush's claim that those who do not support him must be the supporters of terrorism. We do not support terrorism, whether it comes from individuals or the US state."

The meeting also affiliated to the anti-war coalition and some people went to the national demonstration in London.