Fourth church attacked in Malaysia as Allah row deepens

Arsonists in Malaysia struck another church on Saturday, bringing the attacks on churches to four in two days as a row escalates over the use of the word Allah to refer to the Christian God.

The attacks risk dividing the mainly Mulsim nation of 28 million people with significant religious minorities and complicating prime minister Najib Razak's plan to win back support from the non-Muslims before the next elections by 2013.

"I have just been informed by the bishop of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church that his church was firebombed in the early hours of the morning," Reverend Herman Shastri, secretary-general to the Council of Churches Malaysia, told Reuters.

"We ask the government to make a strong statement to these wrongdoers so we can worship in peace on Sunday."

The row, over a court ruling that allowed a Catholic newspaper to use Allah in its Malay-language editions, prompted Muslims to protest at mosques on Friday and sparked unprecedented arson attacks on three churches.

The fourth church is in a residential area in central Selangor state. Arsonists flung over a petrol-bomb at the two-storey bungalow, which sustained minor damage, church officials said.