TEHRAN Anti-Islamic and anti-Asian sentiments have increased during the last week in the United States and other countries following attacks on the New York's World Trade Center twin towers and the Pentagon.

U.S. authorities say a prime suspect for the carnage is Osama Bin Laden, an extremist Saudi-born dissident who is said to control an international terrorist network.

Pakistanis and Muslims have been arrested and later freed in connection with the attacks.

An Indian man who moved to the United States 10 years ago was shot dead on the weekend by an unidentified assailant, in what looked like an unfounded incident of revenge for the attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

AFP reported that Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, the manager of a Service Station in Mesa, Arizona, was killed on Saturday when a gunman in a black pick-up truck drove up and fired three shots.

The assailant then drove on to another service station where a Lebanese-American employee was working, and to a house. More shots were fired but no one else was injured.

Sodhi's brother, Harjit, told the newspaper his sibling was killed because of his dark skin.

Dark-skinned immigrants in the United States, particularly Muslims and Arab-Americans, have been singled out for verbal and in some cases, physical abuse in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

Anti-Islamic sentiments have multiplied during the last week, and the Western media are mostly to blame for the propagation of anti-Islamic and anti-Asian views.

Iranian Jewish MP, Mouris Motamed, was quoted as saying that even some American Jews had also been harassed in the recent wave of nationalism in the United States.

Motamed, speaking in the southern city of Shiraz, claimed that anti-Islamic propaganda and blaming Muslims for being involved in the assaults was unfair.

He also recommended that the U.S. should not make any hasty decisions, and instead consider all aspects of the situation and available options before taking action.

Meanwhile, the White House issued an ultimatum to the Taleban militia, giving them three days to hand over bin Laden. American forces and their NATO allies are on full alert for a possible attack on Afghanistan.

In Rome, cardinals, archbishops and church officials, while condemning the recent developments in the United States, called for restraint. The Christian leaders slammed the vengeance policy of the United States, backed by its Western allies, and suggested that dialogue could resolve the issue.

The Head of the Catholic Church, Pope Jean Paul II, released a statement calling on the U.S. not to resort to revenge tactics and instead adopt a wiser, peace-seeking policy.

An Islamic-Catholic joint committee in Italy also urged Washington to remain calm and maintain peace in the world.

Four out of five Americans polled this weekend said the United States should hold off on using military force to retaliate against the worst terror attack in U.S. history, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed on Sunday.

Before using military force, 81 percent of those polled said the United States should be "completely sure who is specifically responsible" for attacks, said NBC pollster Peter Hart.

Seventy-three percent of the 821 people surveyed said they were confident the United States would capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks.

An expert from the Paris International Relations Institute also asked the United States not to adopt blind policies in retaliation for the terrorist attacks carried out on September 11. Barthelemi Courmot condemned Tuesday's attacks, but hoped that the White House would react calmly and also confer with its allies on the course of action taken.

Commenting on the possible involvement of Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden, Courmot said the size of the operation suggests that huge resources must have been needed to finance the attacks. This raises obvious questions about bin Laden's suspected role.

Regarding the delayed reaction of U.S. radar systems, Courmot said that U.S. officials had been informed of the hijackings, but the period between the hijackings and attacks had been so short that the government was powerless to prevent them.

Afghanistan's Islamic Front also warned the White House over a possible attack to the country. According to reports, foreign minister of the Islamic government in Afghanistan underlined that dialogue is the best solution at the time being.