Indonesia Islamist hardliners attacked, one injured

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Dozens of people attacked the office of a hardline Islamic group in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, police said on Tuesday, apparently in retaliation against the attack on an inter-faith rally at the weekend.

One person was injured in the clash which erupted after a 75-strong crowd gathered at the office of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) while its members were praying on Monday, provincial police chief Untung Rajad told Reuters.

Tensions between moderate and hardline Muslims have increased since a march organised by the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Faith to celebrate religious freedom was disrupted by FPI members in central Jakarta on Sunday.

Members of the FPI attacked the marchers after some members urged tolerance over the treatment of Ahmadiyya, an Islamic sect some Indonesians consider "deviant".

Outbreaks of violence over religious issues, particularly related to the Ahmadiyyas, have become more common in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, in recent months.

Militant Muslim groups have attacked mosques and buildings associated with the Ahmadiyyas, and are lobbying the government to outlaw the sect.

Some 150 people from the country's biggest moderate Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama, marched in the city of Surabaya on Tuesday urging the government to disband the FPI.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the attack on the inter-faith rally and the United States said such acts of violence undermined religious freedom.

"The U.S. embassy condemns the violence against peaceful demonstrators ... This type of violent behavior has serious repercussions for freedom of religion and association in Indonesia, and raises security concerns," it said in a statement late on Monday.

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 226 million people are Muslims, and most are moderate.