Where’s a jihadi work accident when you need one?

(AFP) — A Philippine Muslim cleric on Friday described US authorities as terrorists, while leading a small rally in the nation’s capital to denounce the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

“We condemn the brutal killing of Osama bin Laden,” Sheikh Jamil Yahya shouted from a bullhorn as he began a rally outside the Golden Mosque in central Manila after leading midday prayers.

“America is the number one terrorist in the world. America is the number one enemy of Islam,” Yahya said, drawing clenched-fist salutes from his followers who shouted back: “Allahu akbar (God is greater)”.

The protest came after US commandos swooped on a compound in Pakistan where bin Laden was hiding and shot him dead before dawn on Monday.

About 70 members of Manila’s Islamic minority attempted to march with Yahya to the US embassy after he led several thousand worshippers through midday prayers at the mosque.

Muslims make up the largest minority in the largely Roman Catholic Philippines, which is troubled by a decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the country that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.