Somali-born teenager held over U.S. 'car bomb' plot after tip-off from someone concerned about him

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:28 AM on 29th November 2010

Mohamud was arrested the day after Americans celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday

A Somali-born U.S. citizen arrested after allegedly attempting to bomb a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony was stopped after police received a tip-off from someone concerned about the teenager.
A law enforcement official revealed that Mohamed Osman Mohamud was acting on his own - without any instruction from a foreign terrorist organisation.
Yelling 'Allahu Akbar!' - Arabic for 'God is great!' - he tried to kick agents and police as they went to arrest him, according to prosecutors.
He was held after he had just dialled a mobile phone that he thought would blow up a van full of explosives at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon.
The 'bomb' was a dummy supplied by undercover agents as part of a sting.
Mohamud was arrested at about 5.45pm local time, the day after Americans celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday.
'This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people - even here in Oregon - who are determined to kill Americans,' said U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton.
'We have no reason to believe there is any continuing threat arising from this case.'
Mohamud, a naturalised U.S. citizen living in Corvallis, Oregon, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He's due to appear in court on Monday.
The arrest comes as the U.S. has been struggling with a rise in Americans or U.S. residents plotting terrorist attacks.
Holton released federal court documents that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that Mohamud had been in contact with an 'unindicted associate' in Pakistan's north-west, a frontier region where Al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are strong.
'The complaint alleges that Mohamud attempted to detonate what he believed to be a vehicle bomb at a crowded holiday event,' said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
'Law enforcement action was able to thwart his efforts and ensure no one was harmed.'

The Christmas tree lighting ceremony last night in Pioneer Courthouse, Portland, where Mohamud is alleged to have been planning to detonate a bomb

 

According to a federal complaint, Mohamud was in regular e-mail contact with the 'unindicted associate' in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province starting in August 2009.
The complaint states that in December 2009 Mohamud and the associate used coded language in an e-mail in which the FBI believes Mohamud discussed traveling to Pakistan to prepare for 'violent jihad'.
In the months that followed Mohamud made 'multiple efforts" to contact another 'undicted associate' to arrange travel to Pakistan but had a faulty e-mail address for that person.
Last June an FBI agent contacted Mohamud 'under the guise of being affiliated with the first associate'.
Mohamud and the undercover agent agreed to meet in Portland on July 30.
At that meeting, the undercover agent and Mohamud 'discussed violent jihad', according to the court document.
Mohamud told the agent he wanted to set off explosives at the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square, an event that occurred on Friday.
On Friday, an undercover agent and Mohamud drove to downtown Portland in a white van that carried six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all of them were inert, the complaint states.
They got out of the van and walked to meet another undercover agent, who drove to Union Station, the Portland train station, where Mohamud was given a cell phone that he thought would blow up the van, according to the complaint.
Mohamud dialed the phone agents had given him, and was told the bomb did not detonate. The undercover agents suggested he get out of the car and try again to improve the signal, when he did, he was arrested, the complaint said.
U.S. authorities have been struggling against a recent spate of terror plans by U.S. citizens or residents.
In May, Faisal Shazhad, a naturalized citizen also from Pakistan, tried to set off a car bomb at a bustling street corner in New York City.
U.S. authorities had no intelligence about Shahzad's plot until the smoking car turned up in Manhattan.
Late last month, Pakistan-born Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Virginia was arrested and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an Al Qaeda plot to bomb and kill commuters. Similar to the Portland sting, the bombing plot was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal officials.
Also in October, a Hawaii man was arrested and accused of making false statements to the FBI about his plans to attend terrorist training in Pakistan.
In August, a Virginia man was caught trying to leave the country to fight with an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Somalia.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333576/Somali-born-US-teenager-held-car-bomb-plot-Oregon-Christmas-tree-lighting.html#ixzz16TMi7yHp

Two Christian Brothers Gunned Down...

 

Police: 2 Christian brothers shot, killed in Iraq

By HAMID AHMED

The Associated Press
Monday, November 22, 2010; 8:41 AM 



BAGHDAD -- Gunmen shot and killed two Christian brothers Monday in a northern Iraqi city in the latest in a spate of attacks targeting the religious minority, Iraqi police said.
Christians have been fleeing Iraq amid a series of attacks against them by militants who have vowed a campaign of violence against the country's Christian minority.

In the most serious attack, 68 people died after a group of militants with explosives strapped to their bodies held about 120 people hostage in a Baghdad church last month before Iraqi authorities stormed the building.

Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) north of Baghdad is home to a sizable Christian population that has repeatedly come under attack from Sunni militants who view Christians as nonbelievers.

Brothers Saad and Raad Hannah were working in their auto mechanic shop in Mosul when gunmen burst in and shot them dead before fleeing, police said. A local hospital worker confirmed the deaths. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. 

Last week, two Christians in Mosul were sitting in their living room when gunmen burst into the house and shot them. That same night a house belonging to a Christian family in a different neighborhood of the city was also bombed, although no one was killed in that incident.

Earlier this month, five people were killed during a series of coordinated bombings targeting Christian homes and neighborhoods in Baghdad. Those attacks came after Iraqi authorities beefed up security at churches across Baghdad in response to the hostage crisis.

The attacks against Christians have drawn international condemnation, and some countries in Europe have flown Christians wounded in the church attack out of Iraq for medical treatment. But Iraqi church officials have also pleaded with the Christian minority to not be driven out of their homeland.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112201948.html?nav=ft_world

Christian Faces Death Penalty for Leaving Islam...

Afghan Christian faces trial for alleged conversion from Islam

 

From Matiullah Mati for CNN:
An Afghan Christian, detained for months for allegedly converting to Christianity from Islam, could face trial as early as next week - and could face a potential death penalty, officials said Sunday.
Said Musa was arrested by Afghan Interior Ministry intelligence authorities near the German Embassy in Kabul because of the allegations, said Qamaruddin Shenwari, director of the Kabul courts' north zone. The exact date of his arrest is not known.
The case against Musa has not yet been finalized, said Mohammad Najim Hamidi, director of public security at Zone 3 of the Kabul courts. He could face trial next week if the case is prepared by then, Hamidi said. It was earlier thought Musa's trial would begin on Sunday.
The Afghan Constitution does not mention converting from one religion to another, so the judge will take Islamic law into account, officials said.
"According to Afghanistan's constitution, if there is no clear verdict as to whether an act is criminal or not in the penal code of the Afghan Constitution, then it would be referred to sharia law where the judge has an open hand in reaching a verdict," Shenwari said.
Under sharia law, converting from Islam to Christianity is punishable by death.
It was not immediately clear where Musa was being held and whether he has access to his attorney or relatives.
The U.S. State Department said last week in its annual International Religious Freedom Report that "respect for religious freedom" decreased in Afghanistan in the last year, "particularly toward Christian groups and individuals."
Christians, Hindus and Sikhs - as well as Muslims whose practices don't satisfy the government or society - suffer "intolerance in the form of harassment, occasional violence, discrimination and inflammatory public statements," the report said. It estimated the Afghan Christian community ranges from 500 to 8,000 people.

Posted by: The Editors - CNN Belief Blog
Filed under: Afghanistan • Christianity • Islam

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

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