Nigeria: At least 31 dead in Christmas Eve bombings

Officials received threats from Muslim groups in recent weeks, but did not take them seriously. More on this story. "Death toll increases in Nigerian attacks," from CNN, December 25 (thanks to Zulu):

(CNN) -- The Christmas Eve attacks in the volatile Nigerian city of Jos have claimed at least 31 lives, a bloody aftermath in a region long torn by Christian and Muslim hostility.

Choji Gyang, a special adviser to the governor of the west African country's Plateau state, confirmed the death toll on Saturday, and said 74 others were wounded.

Most of the injured have serious wounds, and some of them suffered leg amputations.

Seven blasts rippled through the city as residents celebrated Chrismas Eve, four in the Kabong area and three in Angwa Rubuka. Gyang cited a "lapse in security" by a special task force not "doing what they were expected to do."

"Five different bombs blasts in the heart of Jos. This is the height of insecurity in this city," Gyang said.

Most of the injured have serious wounds; some of them got both legs amputated and the authorities are concerned about their conditions.

Gyang said no one has claimed responsibility but Islamic fundamentalists are suspected of carrying out the attacks. [...]

Gyang, who is special adviser on religious affairs to the governor, said it was unclear who set off the blasts or whether they were related. But the bombs detonated in the "same manner," Gyang said, and they "all went to where people were concentrated."

In recent weeks, the governor's office had received letters purported to be from some Muslim organizations threatening attacks against Christians, Gyang said.

"The security officials didn't take the threat letters seriously. They were thought of as gimmicks, and at the end of the day, they became reality."

A special task force sent to Plateau state by the federal government in the preceding two days had gone on radio telling residents to go about their business and not to worry about the security situation in the area, Gyang said....

Posted by Marisol on December 25, 2010 8:30 AM

Christmas jihad attacks on churches in Philippines, Nigeria

Weirdly, this AFP story concludes with an account of a bus accident in Ecuador, as if jihad attacks against churches were just another variety of accident. "Fresh attacks mar Christmas celebrations," from AFP, December 25 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Fresh attacks against Christians marred the Christmas festival as church leaders condemned religious persecution and called for peace and reconciliation. Philippines
A bomb in a church during Christmas mass in the southern Philippines wounded six people, including the priest, even as Christian leaders highlighted the plight of believers facing the threat of attacks around the world.
Military officials would not immediately name any suspects in the blast on Jolo island, but the island is a known bastion of the Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to the Al Qaeda network....
Nigeria
In the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Friday, suspected Islamist sect gunmen attacked a church during Christmas Eve services but were fought off by soldiers, a military spokesman said....
Ecuador
A coach journey by passengers heading home for family Christmas celebrations in Ecuador turned tragic Friday when the overcrowded vehicle plunged off the road, killing at least 41, officials said....

Jihad attacks, accidents in overcrowded vehicles -- you know, these things happen...

Posted by Robert on December 25, 2010 1:53 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

Misunderstanders of Islam "call on our brothers to come to Somalia and to help us expand the East Africa jihad"

It's funny how none of the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims seems interested in going to Mogadishu to explain to al-Shabaab how they're getting Islam and jihad all wrong, wrong, wrong. Honest Ibe? Brave Ahmed? Boy Reza? Anyone? Anyone? "Somalia: Al Shabaab calls for continuation of 'East Africa jihad,'" from Garowe Online, December 25:

Somali insurgents have called on Al Qaeda terrorist network to 'come to Somalia' and join what the insurgents called 'East Africa jihad', Radio Garowe reports. Al Shabaab insurgent spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage "Ali Dheere," told a press conference in Mogadishu on Friday that Al Qaeda fighters should come to Somalia to "expand the East Africa jihad."

Sheikh Rage. What an apt name for an Islamic jihad leader.

"We call on our brothers [Al Qaeda] to come to Somalia and to help us expand the East Africa jihad," Ali Dheere said, who was sitting alongside former Hizbul Islam insurgent spokesman, Sheikh Abdifatah Mohamed Ali....

Posted by Robert on December 25, 2010 12:37 PM

Saudi morality police ready to clamp down on New Year's celebrations

It isn't just Christmas they hate. There Is No Fun In Islam* Update: "Haia men ready to block New Year festivities," by MD Humaidan for Arab News, December 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

JEDDAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) has directed all its branch offices to be on the lookout for any year-end celebration, the director general of the Haia in Makkah province Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi said in a statement to Arab News on Friday. "The Haia will immediately dismantle any form of preparations for the celebrations but if these preparations are out of its jurisdiction, it will take up the matter with the authorities concerned," he said, pointing out such prohibitions apply to the celebration of the Hijra new year or the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Sheikh Al-Ghamdi asked the parents to consolidate the Islamic identity of their children and said Saudi citizens and Muslim expatriates should stick to the calls of their Islamic identity.
"This, however, does not prevent Muslims from participating in the celebrations of the non-Muslims on condition that this participation should not touch the basics of the Islamic faith," he said.

Which is doubletalk for, "Don't do it."

The Haia representatives and other authorities concerned are checking markets these days to check for goods with a New Year theme and confiscate them.... The Saudi Permanent Committee for Ifta and Research has said in a fatwa attributed to its chairman Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh that it was against Islam to memorialize the births of prophets, the advent of new calendar years or other holidays.

* The Ayatollah Khomeini said that.

Posted by Robert on December 25, 2010 12:48 PM

Jihad attacks threatened against "the unbeliever and Christian countries celebrating Christmas"

"The Zero Hour has arrived" for the forces of rage and hate. More on this story. "'Jihadist' issues Christmas bombing threat," from AFP, December 24:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A "jihadist" in an audiotaped threat said fireworks displays will set off terrorist bombs in countries celebrating Christmas, the SITE monitoring group said. The recording, titled "The Zero Hour has arrived" and directed to "the unbeliever and Christian countries celebrating Christmas," lasts one minute, three seconds and bears the voice of a member of the Shumukh al-Islam forum, said the US-based monitor.
The speaker, according to SITE, said that failure to heed warnings to cease bloodshed in Muslim countries would result in attacks....
It also comes amid Nigeria's warning that Al-Qaeda-linked militants were likely planning attacks during the Christmas holiday, and the accidental death of a suicide bomber in Stockholm two weeks ago who apparently intended to kill Christmas shoppers.

His "accidental death" came as he was trying to explode a jihad bomb in a crowded area.

Posted by Robert on December 25, 2010 1:04 PM

UK: Muslim group launches "Christmas is evil" poster campaign

Christmas: does it make you think of STD's, rape, teenage pregnancy, abortion? Me either. Islamic Tolerance Alert from Absurd Britannia: "'Christmas is evil': Muslim group launches poster campaign against festive period," from the Daily Mail, December 22 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Fanatics from a banned Islamic hate group have launched a nationwide poster campaign denouncing Christmas as evil. Organisers plan to put up thousands of placards around the UK claiming the season of goodwill is responsible for rape, teenage pregnancies, abortion, promiscuity, crime and paedophilia.
They hope the campaign will help 'destroy Christmas' in this country and lead to Britons converting to Islam instead....
The placards, which have already appeared in parts of London, feature an apparently festive scene with an image of the Star of Bethlehem over a Christmas tree.
But under a banner announcing 'the evils of Christmas' it features a message mocking the song the 12 Days of Christmas.
It reads: 'On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me an STD (sexually transmitted disease).
'On the second day debt, on the third rape, the fourth teenage pregnancies and then there was abortion.'
According to the posters, Christmas is also to responsible for paganism, domestic violence, homelessness, vandalism, alcohol and drugs.
Another offence of Christmas, it proclaims, is 'claiming God has a son'.
The bottom of the poster declares: 'In Islam we are protected from all of these evils. We have marriage, family, honour, dignity, security, rights for man, woman and child.'...

Yes, dignity for women and non-Muslims, as long as they know their place.

Posted by Robert on December 22, 2010 9:59 AM

"We are afraid for our sons and our children. There is no life in Baghdad for the Christians."

The jihad persecution of Christians in Iraq continues to go largely unnoticed by human rights organizations and international bodies that are supposed to be trying to protect people who are threatened. "Iraqi Christians get set for a grim Christmas," by Rebecca Santana for the Associated Press, December 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

IRBIL, Iraq-- They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al-Qaida vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave.

And why? Because the international community has abandoned them. No one cares. To care about their predicament in Iraq would be "Islamophobic."

Since the Oct. 31 bloodbath in their Baghdad church, Iraqi Christians have been fleeing Sunni Muslim extremists who view them as nonbelievers and agents of the West. At a time when Christians in various parts of the Muslim world are feeling pressured, Iraqi Christians are approaching their grimmest Christmas since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and wondering if they have any future in their native land. They have suffered repeated violence and harassment since 2003, when the interreligious peace rigidly enforced by Saddam Hussein fell apart. But the attack on Our Lady of Salvation in which 68 people died appears to have been a tipping point that has driven many to flee northward to the Kurdish enclave while seeking asylum in the U.S. and elsewhere.
'We are afraid'
What seemed different this time was the way the gunmen brazenly barged onto sacred ground, the subsequent targeting of homes by bombers who clearly knew every Christian address, and the Internet posting in which al-Qaida-linked militants took responsibility for the church attack and vowed a campaign of violence against Christians wherever they are.
Ban Daub, 51, narrowly survived the onslaught. She and her nephew were at prayer when they heard explosions. They escaped before five attackers stormed in, but many of their friends did not. A neighbor died clutching his son and daughter in his arms.
Days later a string of bombs went off outside Christian homes across Baghdad. Daub and her family packed a few belongings and headed to a Christian district called Ainkawa in this Kurdish city of Irbil.
"We are afraid for our sons and our children. There is no life in Baghdad for the Christians," she says....
In the Middle East and in Muslim countries beyond, Christians are finding themselves subject to violence and harassment. The Vatican is so worried that it hosted a two-week meeting of Mideast bishops this fall, dedicated to supporting Christian minorities....

Posted by Robert on December 20, 2010 6:49 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]

 

Jihad du Jour: Yemen Sunnis Take Out 17 Shias with Car Bomb

Yemen car bomb kills 17, rattling fragile truce

 

 

(AFP) – Nov 23, 2010

SANAA — A car bomb struck a religious procession in a Shiite rebel bastion of north Yemen on Wednesday, killing 17 people and rattling a fragile truce with the government, a rebel spokesman and a tribal chief said.

"Seventeen people were killed and 15 wounded in the car bombing that targeted a Shiite procession in Al-Jawf province," rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam told AFP by telephone.

Abdulsalam said the attack targeted the faithful who were preparing to mark Al-Ghadeer, the day on which Shiites commemorate the anointment of Ali, one of the key figures of their faith, as successor to the Prophet Mohammed.

The anniversary has long been a source of contention between the Sunni and Shiite branches of the faith and a tribal leader in the province told AFP that the bombing was the work of a Sunni militant loyal to Al-Qaeda.

"A suicide bomber driving a four-wheel drive vehicle blew himself up alongside the procession," the tribal chief said.

"Among the dead was provincial tribal chief Hussein bin Ahmed bin Hadhban and his son," he added.

Other tribal sources warned that the death toll was likely to rise. One told AFP it "could reach 30."

Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has been a growing focus for the operations of his worldwide jihadist network sparking a sharp increase in US military aid.

The mountains in the west of Al-Jawf province and neighbouring Saada have been a stronghold of Zaidi Shiite rebels in the uprising they have been waging against the Sanaa government on and off for the past six years.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday that there had been an "alarming escalation" in fighting in the region, despite a truce signed between the rebels and Sanaa in February.

The agency said that aid agencies and witnesses had reported that clashes between the rebels and pro-government tribes had erupted in Saada province on November 13.

"At least 20 people have been killed reportedly and others wounded over the past 10 days in the worst violence in northern Yemen since the signing of the ceasefire in February," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said, speaking before the latest unrest.

The Yemeni army launched a major offensive against the rebels in August last year sparking a new round of conflict that spilled over the border of the Arab world's poorest country with oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

That fighting ended with an uneasy truce in February mediated by gas-rich Qatar.

But it has been repeatedly shaken by clashes between the rebels and pro-government tribes, and Qatar has been forced to undertake a series of mediation missions in a bid to broker implementation of the peace deal.

Clashes late last month killed two rebel fighters and a pro-government tribesman, a tribal chief said.

The rebels draw their support from among followers of the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam, who are in the minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority community in the north.

There have been six rounds of fighting between the rebels and government troops since the uprising first erupted in 2004.

The UNHCR says that more than 300,000 people have fled the fighting, of whom just 20,000 have so far returned to homes in Saada province.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gUx0NsKeW6A6ByEDVRMUVLpS281w?docId=CNG.bf34ffaff39d44f25f50a544bf627208.501

Al-Awlaki: Americans "party of devils," no special Islamic permission needed to kill them

Either them or us. "Radical Yemeni cleric Awlaki calls for killing of Americans," from NewsCore, November 9:

US-born radical Yemeni cleric Anwar al Awlaki has called for the killing of Americans in a new video message posted yesterday on Islamist websites. Awlaki said Americans are from the "party of devils" and that no special religious permissions are needed to kill them, the Associated Press reported.
In the 23-minute, Arabic-language message, Awlaki said it was "either them or us." [...]

Yep.

"M. [sic] Awlaki is a problem," US Homeland Security and Counterrorism Adviser John Brennan said in January. "He's clearly a part of al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula. He's not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism."...

"He's not just a cleric." In Brennan's world, if he were just a Muslim cleric, he would pose no threat, because Islam is a Religion of Peace. The policy errors to which that false assumption leads are detailed here.

Posted by Robert on November 8, 2010 6:04 AM

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/11/al-awlaki-americans-party-of-devils-no-special-islamic-permission-needed-to-kill-them.html

Philippines Priest Forgives Bishop's Killers...Philippine priest forgives Muslims following bishop’s murder, works for peace

November 01, 2010

Vatican Radio has profiled Father Roberto Laysan, a missionary in a predominantly Muslim area of the Philippines who worked closely with Bishop Benjamin D. de Jesus of Jolo before the bishop was murdered in front of his cathedral in 1997. While 81% of the nation’s 88.7 million people are Catholic, the Jolo area is heavily Muslim: fewer than 3% of the area’s 1 million residents are Catholic.

Father Laysan subsequently asked to be transferred because of the hatred he felt towards Muslims, according to the profile. He then worked in an evacuation center for persons fleeing the fighting on Mindanao between Philippine forces and Islamic separatist rebels. “When you hear the sounds of mothers and children weeping in the night, you no longer ask whether they are Muslim or Christian,” he recounts.

Father Laysan now works as a mediator between the government and Islamic rebels in the troubled region.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8119

Religion of Peace Bloodbath as Holy Warriors Storm Church...Baghdad church hostage drama ends in bloodbath

Continue reading the main story

The gunmen had reportedly demanded the release of jailed al-Qaeda militants

Struggle for Iraq

• End to Iraq's epic journey in sight?
• US troops in Iraq combat dilemma
• Deadly attacks on Iraqi reporters
• Bittersweet memories for Iraqis

At least 52 people were killed as security forces stormed a Catholic church in Baghdad to free dozens of hostages, said Deputy Interior Minister Maj Gen Hussein Kamal.

He suggested six attackers had also died in the fighting, though other sources have said the overall death toll was lower.

Continue reading the main story

ATTACKS ON IRAQI CHRISTIANS SINCE 2003

• Aug 2004 - series of bombings targets five churches, killing 11
• October 2006 - Orthodox priest, Boulos Iskander, snatched in Mosul by group demanding ransom. Despite payment of the ransom, priest found beheaded, his arms and legs also cut off
• June 2007 - Ragheed Ganni - a priest and secretary to Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahh, killed in 2008 - shot dead in his church along with three companions
• January 2008 - Bombs go off outside three Chaldean and Assyrian churches in Mosul, two churches in Kirkuk and four in Baghdad
• February 2008 - Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahh kidnapped; body found in shallow grave two weeks later
• April 2008 - Fr Adel Youssef, an Assyrian Orthodox priest, shot dead by unknown assailants
• February 2010 - At least eight Christians die in a two-week spate of attacks in northern city of Mosul

• Eyewitness: 'Gunshots everywhere'
• In pictures: Baghdad church siege
• Iraqi Christians' long history

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the "absurd... ferocious violence".

The gunmen had reportedly demanded the release of jailed al-Qaeda militants.

A statement was posted on a militant website allegedly run by the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant umbrella group to which al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs, claiming responsibility for the attack.

The statement reportedly said Iraqi Christians would be "exterminated" if Muslim women in Egypt were not freed. It specifically mentioned two women in Egypt who radicals believe are being held against their will after converting to Islam.

Negotiations abandoned

Residents of Baghdad's affluent Karada district, where the attack took place, first heard a loud explosion at about 1700 (1400 GMT) on Sunday, believed to have been a car bomb going off at the scene.

About 100 people were inside Our Lady of Salvation for an evening Mass at the time.

The blast was followed by gunfire as a group of armed men began by attacking the Iraq Stock Exchange building, police said, and then took over the Catholic church just across the road, clashing with guards and killing some of them.

Continue reading the main story

ANALYSIS

Jim MuirBBC News, Baghdad

There have been many attacks on Christians in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003, but nothing like this.

At that time there were estimated to be around one million Christians from several ancient denominations - mainly Assyrian Nestorians, Chaldaeans and Syriacs.

Their numbers are believed to have dwindled now to 600,000 or less.

Many churches have been damaged by bombs in various parts of the country where Christians live - around Mosul in the north, Baghdad, and even Basra in the south.

Christians have also been the victims of targeted killings, while priests and others have been abducted and murdered or ransomed.

The exodus of Christian emigrants has continued despite the general improvement in Iraq's security in the past three years.

The fear is that the carnage on Sunday night at the church of Our Lady of Salvation may speed up the flow of Christians seeking a better life elsewhere.

It seems the church was the attackers' real target, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad.

One eyewitness, who was inside the church, said the gunmen "came into the prayer hall and immediately killed the priest". The witness, who declined to give his name, said worshippers were beaten and herded into an inne hall.

There was an hours-long stand-off as security forces surrounded the building with helicopters hovering overhead.

The militants made contact with the authorities by mobile phone, demanding the release of al-Qaeda prisoners and also of a number of Muslim women they insisted were being held prisoner by the Coptic Church in Egypt.

But the discussions got nowhere, our correspondent says, and the security forces stormed the church.

Witnesses nearby said they then heard two explosions from inside the church and more shooting. The gunmen reportedly threw grenades and detonated their suicide vests.

Maj Gen Hussein Kamal said 52 "martyrs" had died in the fighting, along with six attackers, though a police source earlier said 37 people - worshippers, security forces and attackers - had been killed.

The number of wounded are put at between 56 and 62 - many of them women.

Pope Benedict XVI denounced the attack as he gave a holiday blessing on Monday. He said two priests had died in the siege, though it was unclear whether both were killed in the initial attempt to take hostages or during the raid by security services.

He said he was praying for the victims "of this absurd violence, made more ferocious because it was directed against unarmed people gathered in the house of God".

He called for a new effort to end the violence.

'Impossible to wait'

Iraqi Defence Minister Abdul-Qadr al-Obeidi said security forces approached the building at ground level and from the air.

"We took a decision to launch a land offensive, and in addition an airdrop, because it was impossible to wait - the terrorists were planning to kill a large number of our brothers, the Christians who were at Mass," said Mr Obeidi.

"So the operation was successfully done. All terrorists were killed. And we now have other suspects in detention."

Witnesses say they saw US troops on the ground and US military helicopters hovering above the scene, but the extent of their involvement is not yet clear.

Many churches have been bombed in recent years - including Our Lady of Salvation in August 2004 - and priests kidnapped and killed, but there has never been a prolonged hostage situation like this before, our correspondent says.

Christians - many from from ancient denominations - have been leaving Iraq in droves since the US-led invasion in 2003, and about 600,000 remain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11463544

Teen Girls Had Been Executed to Chants of 'Allah Akbar'...AL-Qaida Executes Two Young Women Before Hundreds of Onlookers

AL-Qaida Executes Two Young Women

With a cry of “there is no God but Allah!” [Allah-u-Akbar!!!] two young Somali girls ages 18 and 15 were executed before hundreds of witnesses in a spray of bullets in Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday.

The girls were sent to their deaths by Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim in the town Belet Weyne which is an  al–Qaida Islamic militia run village.

The charge brought against the two young women was  that of spying for government soldiers.

The two girls, Ayan Mohamet Jama and Huriyo Ibrahim died blindfolded while shocked villagers, forced to attend by Al Shabab, looked on.

These executions come amongst a string of Al Shabab- sponsored whippings, amputations and executions such as those suffered by  the two young women — – all in the name of Islam and overseen by judges whose only qualifications are that they are men who claim to  know the Koran.

http://www.reporterslive.com/2552-al-qaida-executes-two-young-women-before-hundreds-of-onlookers.html

Saudis Sentence Man to 500 Lashes for Blackmail Attempt...

By 

• Staff

Published Saturday, October 30, 2010

An Asian expatriate in Saudi Arabia is to be jailed for two years and lashed 500 times with the whip for trying to blackmail his former girl friend, the Saudi Arabic language daily Alwatan reported on Saturday.

A Sharia (Islamic) court in Makkah found the Muslim Asian man guilty of trying to blackmail the woman by threatening to publicize her photographs unless she agrees to go out with him again, the paper said.

The unidentified woman had informed members of the feared Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice about the man’s threats.

“They asked her to meet him and when he came for the meeting, they seized him and handed him over to the police,” the paper said.

http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/500-lashes-for-blackmailing-former-lover-2010-10-30-1.310786

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