CAIRO, December 3 (Aswat Masriya) – The reasons for the spread of "terrorist organisations" are religious, economic, social and political ones, said the grand imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar Institution on Wednesday.

Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb addressed a two-day international conference in Cairo organised by his institution, entitled "Azhar in the face of terrorism and extremism". 

The grand imam stressed that "terrorist organisations" try to sell a "fraudulent" image of Islam.

"Those organisations are united on declaring Muslims as infidels and legitimising the spilling of their blood," Tayeb told the conference.

Pope Tawadros II, the pope of the Coptic Orthodox church launched the conference alongside Tayeb. Almost 600 Muslim scholars and popes of eastern churches representing around 120 countries are attending the conference, reported state-run news agency MENA.

Egypt has adopted the rhetoric of declaring a "war on terrorism" after a surge in militant activities targeting security personnel which followed the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.

A fact-sheet prepared by Egypt's ministry of foreign affairs put the death toll for terrorism acts which took place since January 2011 and until April 2014 at 971, including 664 security personnel. The number of casualties significantly rose since then.