Jakarta, Indonesia - One fifth of Indonesian Muslims surveyed in March said militant bombings that killed more than 220 people on the resort island of Bali were justified because of the decadent lifestyle there, according to a survey.
The survey of 1,200 people, carried out by Jakarta's State Islamic University, also found that 16.1 percent of respondents supported the September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center that killed almost 3,000 people.
Many mainstream Muslims around the world have condemned militant violence, such as the Bali bombings and September 11, as not in keeping with the teachings of their religion.
Researcher Jajat Burhanudin, author of the study, blamed the findings on Islamic teachings that he said justified violence in the name of the faith.
"The behaviour of religious violence that is developing in Indonesia at the moment is strongly rooted to the understanding over Islamic teachings that justify violence", Burhanudin said in a statement.
"There must be a firm and strategic policy from the government to stop violent acts in the name of religion that have been growing in Indonesia lately," he said.
Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam, making it the world's most populous Muslim country.
Although most Indonesian Muslims are considered relatively moderate and the government is officially secular, hardline groups are becoming increasingly vocal and visible.
According to the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 18.1 percent of respondents supported the murder of Muslims who converted to other faiths, while 23.1 percent said they were willing to wage war for Muslims in Iraq.
The October 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali killed 202 people, most of them tourists.
Islamic militants also carried out suicide blasts on the predominantly Hindu island that is Indonesia's prime foreign tourist destination in October 2005, killing 20 people.