PARIS, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Muslim community in France has a key role in preventing radicalization of youth attracted by online terror propaganda, but it's up to French authorities to fight terrorism at home, said Abdallah Zekri, general secretary of French Council of Muslim Faith.
"The Muslim community in France denounces terrorist attacks and is committed to preventing radicalization, but fighting terrorism is the responsibility of the government," Zekri told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.
"We are focused on fighting radicalization through imams who are working to show youth that fighting in Syria is not a combat for democracy but for killing others," he added.
Zekri noted that Muslims' participation in last Sunday's Catholic masses in several parts of France was a way to curb extremism and show solidarity in the battle against terrorist attacks.
"We Muslims are alongside Christians. Daesh (another name for Islamic State) wants to divide us but it didn't succeed. On the contrary, it helped to cement relationship between the two communities," he stressed.
On July 26, two teenagers took six hostages in a church in northern France before slaughtering a priest and seriously wounding a second person. They were shot dead by police.
The first assailant, identified as Adel Kermiche, tried to reach Syria twice in 2015. Pending trail on terrorism charges, he was put under house arrest and wore an electronic tag.
His accomplice Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean was on a security watchlist since June 29 for becoming radicalized and being a potential terrorist.
The church attack, claimed by Islamic State, came a few days after the Nice carnage in which a 31-year-old man drove his heavy truck into crowds killing 84 people in the southern French city.
The recent attacks ignited criticism of Islamic fundamentalism and fueled feelings of insecurity in Europe and beyond.
"I'm convinced that anti-Muslims acts will increase significantly following an exaggerated debate on security, Islam and terrorism," said Zekri, also president of the National Observatory of Islamophobia.
"Muslims are not terrorists. Islam does not call on people to kill others and commit crimes. They [the attacks] are terrorists who want to spread terror and tarnish the image of Islam," he added.
From January to June this year, 69 attacks against the Muslim community were reported, according to Zekri.
In the wake of the church attack, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called on "Islam of France to react and to build a new relationship with Islam in France." He proposed banning foreign financing of mosques and the training of imams in France.
"Youth are being radicalized via the internet. The government has to stop that," Zekri said.
French authorities must investigate "the origin of terrorism financing" and not point the finger at mosques, he added.
France, home to Europe's largest Islamic community at 5 million Muslims, bans Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols from schools.
