Pakistan: Suicide bomber who struck refugees waiting for food was wearing burqa

Police said "the attacker was a woman, who resisted being searched and hurled a hand grenade at security guards at the checkpoint before triggering her bomb..."
Did they offer her the option of a self-administered pat-down and hand swab?
An update on this story, as recent reports point to a single attacker. "More than 80 dead in Pakistan bombing and raids," from Agence France-Presse, December 25 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

More than 80 were killed in a suicide bombing on a World Food Programme project and a series of helicopter raids against militant camps in Pakistan, officials said.

A suicide bomber wearing a burqa, who some officials said was a woman, killed at least 41 people at a World Food Programme distribution point in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast occurred in Khar, the main town of lawless Bajaur tribal district, once a stronghold of Taliban militants who have carried out several bombings and suicide attacks in the area.

"At least 41 people are dead and more than 60 wounded in the suicide bombing," tribal administration official Sohail Khan said.

Separately, 40 militants were killed in Mohmand, another lawless tribal district, in a series of military raids, officials said.

It's not that Mohmand is lawless; the district is simply suffering the upheaval caused by the jihadist imperative to replace any other legal system with Sharia.

There were conflicting reports about the identity of the bomber in Khar with some officials saying the attacker was a woman, while others claimed a man disguised in a burqa was responsible.

The bomber was intercepted at a checkpoint outside the ration distribution centre and the blast occurred during a search, Sohail Khan said.

The deputy administrator of Khar, Tariq Khan, said that the bombing was carried out by a woman. "It was a female suicide bomber," he said.

Tribal police officials Mubashir Khan and Munasib Khan also said the attacker was a woman, who resisted being searched and hurled a hand grenade at security guards at the checkpoint before triggering her bomb....

Posted by Marisol on December 25, 2010 8:00 AM

"Your [Christmas] fireworks will act as an alarm for the time of our devices to blow up -- devices that we, not Santa Claus, are going to offer to you as gifts, to turn your night into day and your blood into rivers"

For the Islamic jihadist, Christmas is evil, but mass murder isn't. "Yule ghouls' jingle bombs," from AFP, December 25:

WASHINGTON -- An Islamic extremist has threatened in an audiotaped message to set off bombs in countries celebrating Christmas. "Your [Christmas] fireworks will act as an alarm for the time of our devices to blow up -- devices that we, not Santa Claus, are going to offer to you as gifts, to turn your night into day and your blood into rivers," said a member of the Shumukh al-Islam forum.
Hours later, a bomb blast wounded six people today during Christmas Mass at a church in the Philippines.
And in northern Nigeria last night, Islamist sect members launched a failed attack on a church during Christmas Eve services.

Posted by Robert on December 25, 2010 1:48 AM

Authorities Block Egypt Church Construction, Kill Protester...Pakistan Govt. Minister: Taliban are True Followers of Islam, USA ‘Biggest Terrorists’

Pakistan Govt. Minister: Taliban are True Followers of Islam, USA ‘Biggest Terrorists’

November 24th, 2010 | Author: Un:dhimmi

  

What They Say vs. What They Do: Pakistan's government are duplicitous and treacherous - although Tourism Minister ur-Rehman (second from left), appears to be 'off-message', as he tells us what they really think

 

He’s certainly correct about the first bit. What the Pakistan government really think about us infidels behind the beaming smiles, as they trouser billions of your taxpayer £$€¥ in ‘aid’:

The Taliban are “the true followers of Islamic ideology”, says a Pakistan minister who also believes that “America is the biggest terrorist of the world”.

According to federal minister for tourism Maulana Attaur Rehman: “Ulema and Taliban are the true followers of Islamic ideology and America is the biggest terrorist of the world, which is creating hatred against them.”

Dawn quoted Rehman as saying at a public gathering in Allai area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Tuesday that terrorism could not be brought to an end until the US and the world gave equal rights and respect to the Muslims.

“It is a misconception that ulema and Taliban are against co-existence of people with different religions. In fact it is America which is against the interfaith harmony to maintain its hegemony on the world,” said Rehman.

The Pakistan army has been battling heavily armed Taliban guerrillas in the mountainous Waziristan region. The well-entrenched rebels put up a stiff resistance against the advancing soldiers.

The country has faced a string of terror strikes and the Taliban has been blamed for the Dec 27, 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi.

At last a little refreshing honesty breezes through from Islamabad. Mr ur-Rehman has obviously missed all the government media briefing meetings. Inexcusable really – as Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Tourism, he can’t be that busy.

[Source: Dawn/Times of India]

 

25 Iraqis Blown Apart at a Cafe...

Baquba, October 30, 2010




At least 25 people were killed and 75 injured when a suicide bomber targeted a crowded coffee shop late Friday in Iraq's Diyala province, police sources said. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden belt inside the popular coffee shop in Baquba city, some 57 km north of Baghdad.

The cafe was located in Baladruz district, where the majority of residents are Shia Kurds.

A curfew was imposed in Baladruz, police said.

Baquba, once a stronghold of Al Qaeda, is the ethnically mixed capital of Diyala, which remains one of the country's most unstable provinces.

The blast was the first major attack in Iraq in several weeks, as a seven-month political stalemate surrounding the formation of a new government has dragged on.

Both Iraqi civilians and security forces have increasingly come under attack from insurgents in recent months, with less than 50,000 US troops now stationed in the country -- their lowest level since the 2003 invasion.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/25-killed-in-Iraq-suicide-bombing/Article1-619730.aspx

Christian Villagers Hacked to Death...Machete attackers kill 6 in central Nigerian village

Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:11pm GMT

* Six killed in attack blamed on herdsmen

* Clashes in the region killed hundreds earlier in year

By Shuaibu Mohammed

JOS, Nigeria, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Attackers armed with machetes killed six people in a village in central Nigeria on Tuesday in a raid reminiscent of ethnic clashes in which hundreds died earlier this year, a military spokesman said.

Herdsmen thought to be from the mostly Muslim Hausa-Fulani ethnic group raided the small Christian village of Rawhinku, some 10 km (6 miles) east of the city of Jos, in the early hours of the morning, residents said.

"Six people were killed in similar murders to those in Dogo Nahawa. Three others sustained various degrees of injuries," said Kingsley Umoh, spokesman for a special military and police taskforce in the region.

Dogo Nahawa, just south of Jos, was one of the villages that bore the heaviest casualties during clashes between Muslim herders and mostly Christian villagers in January and March. [ID:nLDE6260AW]

President Goodluck Jonathan -- who was then the country's acting leader -- deployed hundreds of soldiers and police to quell the clashes between mobs armed with guns, machetes and knives, but periodic attacks have continued.

Thousands of people have died over the past decade in religious and ethnic violence in the "Middle Belt" of Africa's most populous nation, where the mostly-Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south.

DECADES OF RESENTMENT

The tension is rooted in decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands and for economic and political power with migrants and settlers from the north.

Nigeria is a generally peaceful nation of more than 200 ethnic groups but regional rivalries and tribalism bubble under the surface. It can ill-afford instability as it prepares for presidential, parliamentary and local elections next year.

The presidential race is set to be the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule a decade ago, with the controversy focused on a ruling party "zoning agreement" which is supposed to ensure power rotates between north and south.

The aim of the unwritten agreement is to prevent the sort of rivalries that have fuelled the violence in the Middle Belt from becoming a factor in federal politics.

Jonathan's candidacy is controversial because he is from the south and his victory would disrupt zoning. He inherited the presidency in May after the death of northern President Umaru Yar'Adua part way through his first term, and Jonathan's opponents say only a northerner should run. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ ) (Writing by Nick Tattersall)

© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved

http://af.reuters.com/article/nigeriaNews/idAFLDE69P2HQ20101026?sp=true

Armed Islamists Occupy Chapel - Police Break Up Mass Instead...Rawalpindi: Police stop mass in front of Gordon College chapel

10/25/2010 13:32
PAKISTAN


by Jibran Khan
Local authorities apply law 144 / c, which bans any gathering of more than two individuals. The Christians had organized the mass to protest against the illegal occupation of the Protestant chapel since October 19 by a group of Islamic extremists .


Islamabad (AsiaNews) – The situation remains tense between Christians and local authorities in Rawalpindi (Punjab) over the illegal occupation of the Christian chapel of Gordon College, a Presbyterian Church University. Yesterday, the police stopped the celebration of a Mass organized by the Protestant community in front of the chapel. To prevent the gathering local authorities applied law 144 / c, which bans any gathering of more than two individuals. More than 20 police trucks arrived on site, dispersing the crowd.
On 19 October, a group of 20 armed men occupied the chapel and have barricaded themselves inside. These are Muslim faithful who have the backing of the local government with false documents claiming ownership of the building.
The act has drawn the protests of both Christians and Muslims. In recent days, theAll Pakistan Christian Action Committee (Apcac), the local Christian community and non-governmental organizations took to the streets of Rawalpindi to demand justice and freedom of worship for Christians.
Nina Robinson Asghar, head of Apcac, said: "The culprits have made fake documents of the property, they want to demolish the Church and construct a commercial center,but we will never allow this to happen."
The Chapel of the Gordon College was reopened in April 2010 after eight years of closure. It currently belongs to a government trust fund, which should hand it to the Christian community, however, according to Pakistani law, the church could also be sold to third. The illegal occupation is an attempt to steal the building, a similar incident occurred in April, but the police intervened, arresting the culprits.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Rawalpindi:-Police-stop-mass-in-front-of-Gordon-College-chapel-19816.html

'Tolerant Indonesia': 700 Churches Attacked in 10 Years

October 26, 2010

Some 700 Catholic and Protestant churches have been attacked in Indonesia over the past decade, according to the Indonesian Christian Communication Forum. Between October 12 and October 17, a Catholic parish was attacked, another was threatened with attack, and a Protestant church was burned down.

“The violence and attacks, against Christian churches of all denominations, has grown in recent years and now in the past several days,” said Bishop Johannes Pujasumarta of Bandung, secretary general of the Indonesian bishops’ conference. “Those responsible are small radical Islamic groups that are sowing panic among our people, especially in the Dioceses of Jakarta, Bandung, and Bogor. They are minority groups, but they should be stopped. The violence also increases the indifference of the civil authorities and police, who shrug off the violence. We demand more attention and protection for the Christian communities and that such acts may not remain unpunished.”

3% of the nation’s 224.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; 6% are Protestant and 86% are Muslim, making Indonesia the country with the largest Muslim population.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8057