Islamist militants set off bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day - three targeting churches including one that killed at least 27 people - raising fears that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war.
The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia law across the country, claimed responsibility for the three church bombs, the second Christmas in a row the group has caused mass carnage with deadly bombings of churches. Security forces also blamed the sect for two other blasts in the north.
St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, a satellite town about 40 km (25 miles) from the center of the capital Abuja, was packed when the bomb exploded just outside.
"We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out," Timothy Onyekwere told Reuters. "Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are. I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead."
Hours after the first bomb, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in northern Yobe state at the town of Gadaka. Residents said many were wounded in Gadaka, but there were no immediate further details.
A suicide bomber killed four security officials at the State Security Service in one of the other bombs, which struck the northeastern town of Damaturu, police said. Residents heard two loud explosions and gunfire in the town.
A Reuters reporter at the church near Abuja saw the front roof had been destroyed, as had several houses nearby. Five burnt out cars were still smouldering. There were scenes of chaos, as shocked residents stared at the wreckage in disbelief.
"Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound: 'Gbam!' Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere," Nnana Nwachukwu told Reuters.
Father Christopher Barde, Assistant priest of the church, said: "The officials who counted told me they have picked up 27 bodies so far."
Police cordoned off the area around the church. Thousands of furious youths set up burning road blocks on the highway from Abuja leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.
Police and the military tried to disperse them by firing live rounds into the air with tear gas.
"We are so angry," shouted Kingsley Ukpabi, as a queue of hooting vehicles lined up behind his flaming barrage.
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Showing posts with label radical islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radical islam. Show all posts
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Military crackdown in Cairo; is Mohamed ElBaradei the way forward?
Egypt’s interim military rulers battled a reinvigorated protest movement calling for its ouster Sunday, as thousands of demonstrators forced troops to retreat from Tahrir Square for a second night in a row.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square — the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring — to the early days of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The military-led government’s attempts to beat back or squash the protests appeared to only redouble their strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., raining down rocks and tear gas as they drove thousands of demonstrators out before them.
But after less than half an hour they had retreated, having succeeded only in burning down a few tents planed in the middle of the square. And after another half an hour the crowd of protestors had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The protests against military rule spread to at least seven other cities, including Alexandria and Suez. The health ministry said at least three were killed Sunday, after one died Saturday, and the number of seriously injured grew to over 900. A makeshift field hospital the protestors had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by birdshot and rubber bullets and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square — the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring — to the early days of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The military-led government’s attempts to beat back or squash the protests appeared to only redouble their strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., raining down rocks and tear gas as they drove thousands of demonstrators out before them.
But after less than half an hour they had retreated, having succeeded only in burning down a few tents planed in the middle of the square. And after another half an hour the crowd of protestors had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The protests against military rule spread to at least seven other cities, including Alexandria and Suez. The health ministry said at least three were killed Sunday, after one died Saturday, and the number of seriously injured grew to over 900. A makeshift field hospital the protestors had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by birdshot and rubber bullets and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Activists in Arab World Vie to Define Islamic State
CAIRO — By force of this year’s Arab revolts and revolutions, activists marching under the banner of Islam are on the verge of a reckoning decades in the making: the prospect of achieving decisive power across the region has unleashed an unprecedented debate over the character of the emerging political orders they are helping to build.
Few question the coming electoral success of religious activists, but as they emerge from the shadows of a long, sometimes bloody struggle with authoritarian and ostensibly secular governments, they are confronting newly urgent questions about how to apply Islamic precepts to more open societies with very concrete needs.
In Turkey and Tunisia, culturally conservative parties founded on Islamic principles are rejecting the name “Islamist” to stake out what they see as a more democratic and tolerant vision.
In Egypt, a similar impulse has begun to fracture the Muslim Brotherhood as a growing number of politicians and parties argue for a model inspired by Turkey, where a party with roots in political Islam has thrived in a once-adamantly secular system. Some contend that the absolute monarchy of puritanical Saudi Arabia in fact violates Islamic law.
A backlash has ensued, as well, as traditionalists have flirted with timeworn Islamist ideas like imposing interest-free banking and obligatory religious taxes and censoring irreligious discourse.
The debates are deep enough that many in the region believe that the most important struggles may no longer occur between Islamists and secularists, but rather among the Islamists themselves, pitting the more puritanical against the more liberal.
Few question the coming electoral success of religious activists, but as they emerge from the shadows of a long, sometimes bloody struggle with authoritarian and ostensibly secular governments, they are confronting newly urgent questions about how to apply Islamic precepts to more open societies with very concrete needs.
In Turkey and Tunisia, culturally conservative parties founded on Islamic principles are rejecting the name “Islamist” to stake out what they see as a more democratic and tolerant vision.
In Egypt, a similar impulse has begun to fracture the Muslim Brotherhood as a growing number of politicians and parties argue for a model inspired by Turkey, where a party with roots in political Islam has thrived in a once-adamantly secular system. Some contend that the absolute monarchy of puritanical Saudi Arabia in fact violates Islamic law.
A backlash has ensued, as well, as traditionalists have flirted with timeworn Islamist ideas like imposing interest-free banking and obligatory religious taxes and censoring irreligious discourse.
The debates are deep enough that many in the region believe that the most important struggles may no longer occur between Islamists and secularists, but rather among the Islamists themselves, pitting the more puritanical against the more liberal.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The Third Jihad
No religious or political group should be able to open their doors, receive monies or operate without criminal law exposure in the USA unless they swear, and affirm to uphold the USA Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
Next, no religious institution in the USA should be allowed to teach it is supreme over any other form of faith.
The Third Jihad, the newest offering from the producers of the captivating documentary film, Obsession, explores the existence of radical Islam in America and the emerging risk that this “homegrown jihad” poses to national security, western liberties and the “American way of life.”
The film, which is narrated by devout Muslim American Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, opens with the following statement: “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims are radical. This film is about them.”
In 72 minutes, the film reveals that radical Islamists driven by a religiously motivated rejection of western values cultures and religion are engaging in a multifaceted strategy to overcome the western world. In contrast to the use of “violent jihad” and terror to instill fear in “non-believers,” The Third Jihad introduces the concept of “cultural jihad” as a means to infiltrate and undermine our society from within.
Jihad Manifesto
In the film, The Third Jihad, prominent attention is given to a document used in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF).
The document, titled "An Explanatory Memorandum: On the General Strategic Goal for the Group," was originally obtained from the website of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, which made it publicly available, along with many other documents from the trial. The trial, which was one of the largest terror funding cases in U.S. history, recently ended in a conviction, with guilty verdicts on 108 charges.
The memorandum, which is understood to be a strategic document produced by the Muslim Brotherhood, has been widely analyzed, including, notably, in an assessment by Pentagon Joint Staff analyst, Stephen Coughlin. NEFA quotes Army Lt. Col. Joseph Myers, who writes about Coughlin's review:
This assessment makes the point that the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered a threat organization and the affiliated U.S. domestic Muslim NGOs and associations identified in the strategy document should likewise be considered part of the Muslim Brotherhood network, that these are 'front functional organizations operating as links and nodes of the overall network."
Coughlin writes that "It should be noted that the memorandum met evidentiary standards to be admissible as evidence in a Federal Court of law."
Stephen Coughlin's Department of Defense memo can be read here:
http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/HLF/CoughlinMemo.pdf
Some links for other articles mentioning the document:
http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/230/finally-the-smoking-gun.com
http://www.hudson.org/files/documents/CT6%20zeyno.pdf
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/09/homeland_security_implications_1.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/091707dnmetbrotherhood.35ce2b6.html http://cbs11tv.com/local/holy.land.foundation.2.506008.html
Next, no religious institution in the USA should be allowed to teach it is supreme over any other form of faith.
The Third Jihad, the newest offering from the producers of the captivating documentary film, Obsession, explores the existence of radical Islam in America and the emerging risk that this “homegrown jihad” poses to national security, western liberties and the “American way of life.”
The film, which is narrated by devout Muslim American Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, opens with the following statement: “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims are radical. This film is about them.”
In 72 minutes, the film reveals that radical Islamists driven by a religiously motivated rejection of western values cultures and religion are engaging in a multifaceted strategy to overcome the western world. In contrast to the use of “violent jihad” and terror to instill fear in “non-believers,” The Third Jihad introduces the concept of “cultural jihad” as a means to infiltrate and undermine our society from within.
Jihad Manifesto
In the film, The Third Jihad, prominent attention is given to a document used in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF).
The document, titled "An Explanatory Memorandum: On the General Strategic Goal for the Group," was originally obtained from the website of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, which made it publicly available, along with many other documents from the trial. The trial, which was one of the largest terror funding cases in U.S. history, recently ended in a conviction, with guilty verdicts on 108 charges.
The memorandum, which is understood to be a strategic document produced by the Muslim Brotherhood, has been widely analyzed, including, notably, in an assessment by Pentagon Joint Staff analyst, Stephen Coughlin. NEFA quotes Army Lt. Col. Joseph Myers, who writes about Coughlin's review:
This assessment makes the point that the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered a threat organization and the affiliated U.S. domestic Muslim NGOs and associations identified in the strategy document should likewise be considered part of the Muslim Brotherhood network, that these are 'front functional organizations operating as links and nodes of the overall network."
Coughlin writes that "It should be noted that the memorandum met evidentiary standards to be admissible as evidence in a Federal Court of law."
Stephen Coughlin's Department of Defense memo can be read here:
http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/HLF/CoughlinMemo.pdf
Some links for other articles mentioning the document:
http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/230/finally-the-smoking-gun.com
http://www.hudson.org/files/documents/CT6%20zeyno.pdf
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/09/homeland_security_implications_1.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/091707dnmetbrotherhood.35ce2b6.html http://cbs11tv.com/local/holy.land.foundation.2.506008.html
Saturday, September 10, 2011
For every mosque opened in the West; we should open a church, synagogue, & temple in Islamic nations = how's that for balance?
We the people of Earth will never win an argument with each other about whose imaginary friend is better.
Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI), which published a report in July, warning of tens of millions of dollars coming to Spain from Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to support Muslims, and calling for close monitoring of these funds. The CNI's report hinted that the money would be used to promote Islamic courts, remove girls from schools, and encourage forced marriages. The Spanish government's response was to call for all donations from the Gulf Arab states to be channeled through a government- controlled "Islamic Commission of Spain". The CNI pointed to the Kuwaiti government's funding of the construction of mosques in Catalonia, from which Islamic preachers are "spreading a religious interpretation that opposes the integration of Muslims into Spanish society and promotes separation and hate towards non-Muslim groups. Qatari donations are made through the Islamic League for Dialogue and Coexistence in Spain, a group the CNI says is "linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria".
The Moroccan government is aggressively implementing "a strategy of great magnitude" to exert control over the religious and cultural beliefs and practices of the nearly one million Moroccan immigrants who reside in Spain.
The strategy involves establishing a parallel Muslim society in Spain by discouraging Moroccans from integrating into their host country, and by encouraging them instead to live an Islamic lifestyle isolated from Spanish society.
Rabat is also financing the construction of hundreds of mosques in Spain whose imams are directly appointed by the Moroccan government. Moreover, the North African country is attempting to impose Muslim religious instruction in Spanish public schools, and is pressuring Moroccan families to remove their children from those schools that fail to comply
According to Noureddine Ziani, a Barcelona-based Moroccan imam: “It is absolutely necessary to accept Islamic values as European values and that from now on, Europeans should replace the term "Judeo-Christian" with term "Islamo-Christian" when describing Western Civilization.
Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI), which published a report in July, warning of tens of millions of dollars coming to Spain from Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to support Muslims, and calling for close monitoring of these funds. The CNI's report hinted that the money would be used to promote Islamic courts, remove girls from schools, and encourage forced marriages. The Spanish government's response was to call for all donations from the Gulf Arab states to be channeled through a government- controlled "Islamic Commission of Spain". The CNI pointed to the Kuwaiti government's funding of the construction of mosques in Catalonia, from which Islamic preachers are "spreading a religious interpretation that opposes the integration of Muslims into Spanish society and promotes separation and hate towards non-Muslim groups. Qatari donations are made through the Islamic League for Dialogue and Coexistence in Spain, a group the CNI says is "linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria".
The Moroccan government is aggressively implementing "a strategy of great magnitude" to exert control over the religious and cultural beliefs and practices of the nearly one million Moroccan immigrants who reside in Spain.
The strategy involves establishing a parallel Muslim society in Spain by discouraging Moroccans from integrating into their host country, and by encouraging them instead to live an Islamic lifestyle isolated from Spanish society.
Rabat is also financing the construction of hundreds of mosques in Spain whose imams are directly appointed by the Moroccan government. Moreover, the North African country is attempting to impose Muslim religious instruction in Spanish public schools, and is pressuring Moroccan families to remove their children from those schools that fail to comply
According to Noureddine Ziani, a Barcelona-based Moroccan imam: “It is absolutely necessary to accept Islamic values as European values and that from now on, Europeans should replace the term "Judeo-Christian" with term "Islamo-Christian" when describing Western Civilization.
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