Jakarta – An Indonesian newspaper has agreed to run a front- page apology for seven days and build a mosque following protests over an article which angered a Muslim group, a journalist and a report said yesterday.

The Surabaya-based Jawa Pos daily also agreed to fire three journalists who wrote the article that offended the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organisation, the Kompas daily reported.

"Yes, there was an apology ... but personally we were pressured to do so since the Banser [an NU civilian guard] had gone upstairs," one of the daily's correspondents, Azrul Ananda, told AFP referring to how protesters invaded the editorial offices.

More than 100 people from the Banser and the NU's youth group, Ansor, forced their way into the newspaper offices on Saturday and demanded the cancellation of Sunday's edition of the newspaper.

They were protesting against an article published on Saturday which alleged that leading NU members, including Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is a former chairman of the NU, were involved in corruption, collusion and nepotism. Media organisations and human-rights groups have strongly criticised the actions of the NU-affiliated group.