President John Mahama has asked people not to link terrorism to Islam, saying people who perpetrate violence under the guise of Islam are not real Muslims.

“We live in a world that is changing and some people under the guise of religion and religious extremism misinterpret the religious doctrines and use it to create harm for ideological reasons,” President Mahama said at this year’s Eid-ul Fitr celebration at the Black Star square in Accra, Wednesday.

President Mahama added: “Terrorism has entered our sub region and these people who propagate the terrorism ideology come under the guise of religion and erroneously try to create an equation between terrorism and Islam; it is not true; there is no link between terrorism and Islam.”

President Mahama who is seeking a second term in office in this year’s election challenged the nation’s youth not to allow themselves to be brainwashed into propagating violence under the guise of religion.

The president’s comments come after reports emerged last year that some students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology had traveled to Syria to join terrorist group ISIS.

Hundreds of Moslems gathered at the Black Star Square in Accra to mark this year’s Eid ul Fitr celebrations.