Large majorities in Muslim countries are increasingly worried about Islamist militancy and oppose its best-known groups, such as the global al-Qaeda movement, Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Hamas, according to a new survey.

Support for violent tactics such as suicide bombing has fallen in many countries over the past decade, although some states still have significant minorities approving it, the survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center said.

Pew, which regularly tracks opinion on religious issues around the world, polled over 14,000 Muslims in 14 countries in April and May, before the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group seized a large swathes of Iraq and Syria and announced a new Islamic “caliphate” there.

Although it did not ask about ISIL, the survey’s findings suggest there would be little support for a call on Tuesday by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for Muslims worldwide to take up arms to avenge what he said were wrongs committed against Islam.

“In most Middle Eastern countries, concern about extremism has increased in the past year,” said the survey issued on Tuesday.

The survey showed majorities, often quite strong, in most countries against the best-known militant Islamist groups.

Negative opinions about al-Qaeda were strongest in Lebanon, with 96 percent against it, followed by Turkey at 85 percent, Jordan at 83 percent and Egypt at 81 percent.

The survey was not conducted in Syria or Iraq, where war including al Qaeda forces would make it impossible to interview a representative sample of 1,000 as happened elsewhere.

In Nigeria, 79 percent of those polled had negative views of Boko Haram, the insurgent group staging regular attacks in the north that have killed hundreds in recent months.

Some 59 percent of Pakistanis were opposed to the Taliban.   »»» The Star Online (Malaysia)

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