COTABATO CITY?Muslims and Christians prayed a block apart here Sunday as their religious leaders exchanged peace messages.

As early as 6 a.m., Muslim worshippers began entering the gate of Cotabato City Central Pilot Elementary School for the Eid al-Fitr prayer.

Across the track-and-field ground where Muslims spread carpets for the prayer, Christians flocked for the early first Sunday Mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral.

The night before, Mufti Omar Pasigan, 71, extended his message of peace and goodwill to Muslims and Christians sharing a common community as he declared this year?s end of Ramadan.

?May the Muslims and Christians live in peace and prosperity in this community,? Pasigan said in his broadcast declaration on the end of Ramadan in the current Muslim Hijrah (Migration) year of 1430.

Pasigan said political and civic leaders had opened at least three open spaces here as designated places of worship for the Eid al-Fitr prayer?the ARMM Complex, the People?s Palace as the City Hall is called, and the city?s Central Pilot Elementary School.

The sun came out after two days of rain during the 45-minute open-field prayer. An hour later, heavy rain again fell.

For his part, Bishop Orlando Quevedo said: ?The Christians felicitate our brother and sister Muslims with prayers for peace and healing and of environment that will help them become successful in their celebration.?

Officials said the unusually heavy presence of security forces on the premises was prompted partly by a deadly bombing in July at the gate side of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas office here in which about a dozen people were killed and scores wounded.

Mayor Muslimin Sema called on the young to seek education as their first priority. ?Education leads the way through virtues of worship and good deeds as followers and leaders,? he said.

Top cleric killed in Russia

Elsewhere as Muslims marked Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, Ismail Bostanov, rector of the Islamic Institute and a top Muslim cleric, was killed in an attack in Russia?s turbulent North Caucasus, Russian news agencies reported.

Bostanov?s car was fired on by unknown assailants as the vehicle was stopped at a traffic light in the center of Cherkessk. His son was wounded in the shooting, the RIA Novosti news agency said.

?Zionist cancer?

In Tehran, Iran?s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted arch-foe Israel, Western powers and foreign media networks in a sermon.

Khamenei, who has the final say in all Iran?s national issues, said a ?Zionist cancer? was gnawing into the lives of Islamic nations.

In Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai extended an olive branch to Taliban militants trying to overthrow his Western-backed government.

Karzai, currently beleaguered by fraud accusations following the Aug. 20 election, also extended condolences to the families of civilian victims of a massive suicide attack that killed six Italian soldiers on Thursday.

?On this auspicious day, once again I ask all those Afghan brothers who are unhappy or are in others? hands to stop fighting, destroying their own land and killing their own people,? he said, speaking to reporters at the presidential palace in Kabul.

Uprooted Pakistanis

At the United Nations-run Jalozai Camp in Pakistan, Pakistani families uprooted by conflict with the Taliban faced a miserable Eid al-Fitr, with no cash to splash on celebrations and longing to return to homes they fear no longer exist.

?All I want is to go back home this Eid,? said Khalida Bibi, a 10-year-old girl standing in a queue to collect packages from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the Jalozai camp for displaced people in northwest Pakistan.

The United Nations said about two million Pakistanis were displaced as a result of fighting between the Army and Taliban militants, which the United States branded an existential threat to the nuclear-armed country.

Officials say 1.65 million have since returned home, but a fresh operation launched this month in the Khyber district, a major supply route for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, has displaced another 56,000 to 100,000 people.

Greetings from Obama

In Washington, US President Barack Obama stressed in a statement the commonality between American culture and the values of Islam.

?As Muslims in the United States and around the world complete the month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, Michelle and I would like to extend our personal greetings on this joyous occasion,? Obama said in a statement.

?Even on this festive occasion, Muslims remember those less fortunate, including those impacted by poverty, hunger, conflict and disease,? he added. With a report from Agence France-Presse