Churches in Malaysia were full of worshippers despite attacks against Christian places of worship in recent days in a dispute about the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslim minorities.

"People's faith is greater than what's happening around [them] so they continue to go to church and pray for themselves as well as for the nation," said the Rev Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, on January 10.

He said heightened security measures had been taken following the attacks, which came after a court decision that opened the way for non-Muslim minorities to use the word "Allah" in their religious books and publications.

Nobody has so far been injured in the attacks, which by Jan 11 were reported to have targeted nine church buildings and have raised concern among minority Christians living in the Muslim-majority southeast-Asian country.

Two churches in Taiping in northern Perak state were attacked on Jan 10 by arsonists who threw Molotov cocktails in the early hours before Sunday services began. Four other churches were attacked in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Jan 8, with one church sustaining serious damage to part of its building.

The fire bomb thrown at Taiping's All Saints Anglican church caused scorch marks on the walls of the building and set off a small fire, church officials said. Another attack on a Roman Catholic church in the city caused no damage to the building.

About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million-population is Muslim. The rest are Buddhists (19 percent), Christians (nine percent), Hindus (six percent), Sikhs and other faiths.

Adherents of minority religions have expressed concern in recent years that the country is becoming "Islamized" following a series of court decisions and government laws that minority groups have said impede on their freedom to worship.

The Malaysian government has appealed against a court decision to allow non-Muslims to use the word "Allah" for God after a judge earlier this month cleared the way for a Catholic newspaper to use the word in its Malay-language edition and determined that the word "Allah" was not exclusive to Muslims.

The court decision was criticized by Muslim groups, who have expressed concern that allowing the word "Allah" to be used by other religious groups would encourage proselytizing of Muslims to convert them to Christianity and other faiths.