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

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

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

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