In the news - muslims......

[Shammu]

New anti-Christian attack in Mosul, two sisters killed
11/12/2008

Eyewitnesses say the gang that carried out the attack was made up of men ranging in age from 16 to 18. Attackers killed the young women in cold blood then placed a bomb at the entrance of their house, killing two policemen when it went off. Sources tell AsiaNews that the violence is tied to an ongoing “power struggle” ahead of upcoming provincial council elections.

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Mosul Christians have been attacked again today. A group of armed men stormed a house in the Alqahira neighbourhood where they killed two sisters in what amounts to targeting killing. After entering the building the gunmen shot the two young women in cold blood and wounded their mother with a knife. At present she is in hospital but her conditions are not serious. The husband and the son were able to escape at the start of the attack.

The victims are Lamia Sobhy Salloha and Walàa Sobhy Salloha, both from the Syro-Catholic Church of Mosul. The two young women were employed by the Office of the Treasurer of the Municipality of Wala.

According to eyewitnesses the attack was carried out by a gang of 16-to18-year olds who after attacking the residents of the house placed a bomb at the entrance and detonated it when a group of police agents came to the scene, killing two and wounding others.

A source told AsiaNews that “youth gangs from poor families” were involved in the incident but that behind them there is “a criminal organisation” that is doing everything to drive Christians out of the city.

“It is over power and the next election to provincial councils and minority representation, which might be decisive for the balance between Arabs and Kurds,” said the source.

Urged by the United Nations, the government had promised to put art. 50 back into a draft law to guarantee minorities 15 seats out of 440 (13 for Christians). But on 3 November parliament passed the bill without doing so, which later received the necessary sanction by the Presidency Council to become law with only one seat set aside for Mosul Christians. The parliament’s decision has embittered the leaders of the Iraqi Church who slammed the blatant violation of the constitution which should ensure equal rights for all citizens.

“We don’t trust anyone. Both Arabs and Kurds promised to help us but so far we have not seen anything concrete,’ the source told AsiaNews. Today’s attack was “another warning by those who want to force Christians into the Niniwa Plains.”

In recent days more than 700 families had decided to come back to Mosul after local authorities promised to provide them with greater protection. This targeted killing “will push Christians to flee again” and threats of new attacks and violence will continue to hang over the few who remain.

“It is all a political game but it is Christians who are the losers,” said the source.

Today’s attack is but the last in a series of acts of violence against Mosul’s Christian community which has been targeted by Islamic fundamentalists and armed gangs alike.

Since the start of October, 16 people have died and 2,000 families (about 12,000 people) have left the city.

Matters had begun to get better in recent days, hence the decision of 700 families to come back; however, today’s attack will cast an even greater shadow on the fate of Iraq’s Christian community.

New anti-Christian attack in Mosul, two sisters killed

[Shammu]

Doctor accused of bomb plot planned 'taste of fear'
November 12 2008

Car bombs in London and Glasgow were meant to scare public but not maim or kill, says Bilal Abdulla

An NHS doctor accused of the Glasgow airport attack today admitted planning to set cars on fire to give Britain a "taste of fear".

Bilal Abdulla, 29, an Iraqi, said he had wanted the incendiary devices to throw the spotlight back on the devastating effect of war on his homeland.

He branded the British government "democratically elected murderers" and said he wanted Muslims to escape oppression and leave Britain.

But Abdulla told Woolwich crown court in London that he knew the "horror and terror" of the July 7 attacks and had not wanted to injure or kill anyone.

Going into the witness box for the second day, Abdulla said he wanted to "bring the Iraq issue to life".

"I wanted the public to taste what is going on, for them to have a taste of what the decisions of their democratically elected murderers did to my people.

"I wanted to challenge the government's proposal that war brings peace, will bring peace to this country, that pre-emptive strikes will bring peace to this country.

"War brings only war and hatred. If you want peace, bring peace. If you want love, give love.

"We intended to bring a device that would give just a taste, the taste of fear. It would look professional, it was dangerous, but in reality it was not.

"In reality it was not a dangerous device. It was a device that would not kill people."

Abdulla admitted researching and preparing the devices in Houston, near Glasgow, with his friend Kafeel Ahmed, 28, an Indian engineering student.

He said they decided to act as he prepared to leave Britain and return to Jordan after his family fled there from the fighting in Iraq. "I had a major sense of guilt, living in safety while all my people are massacred," he said.

Abdulla said Ahmed, who died after the pair drove a burning Jeep into the main terminal building of Glasgow airport, was in London on July 7 2005.

"I felt the horror and terror of 7/7 as you people felt it. I felt exactly the same as you," Abdulla said.

"One of my friends was in London. The opinion of all of us was that the killing of innocent people is an atrocity by all the word means.

"It is not accepted by any religion or any law and that was the opinion of all of us."

Abdulla is accused of attempting to murder hundreds of people by leaving car bombs detonated by mobile phones outside a West End nightclub in June 2007.

When the gas canister and petrol devices did not go off, he joined a suicide attack on Glasgow airport the next day, the prosecution has said.

Abdulla said he was responsible for gathering cash and finding a base while Ahmed designed the devices.

The junior doctor said he "did not have a clue" about how the devices would be made and saw Ahmed as an expert. He admitted translating an Arabic internet document, The Military Use of Electronics, for his friend.

Abdulla said: "The plan was simple. Kafeel would use cars that would have petrol canisters at the back of the car, the boot.

"We would use mobile phones to ignite the petrol and the cars would burn.

"The second part of the plan was we would call the cars from far away, on our way home. He would be in one of the airports and [I would be just about] to get on a plane, and we would call the cars and let them burn.

"Kafeel said he would give it touches that would show there was an element of professionalism in this job.

"The media would take up these devices, [making them into] a big thing."

Abdulla is on trial with a second man, Mohammed Asha, 28, who is accused of conspiracy to murder cause explosions. They have pleaded not guilty.

Doctor accused of bomb plot planned 'taste of fear'

[Shammu]

Christian doctor accused of anti-Islam blasphemy freed (but in hiding)
by Qaiser Felix
11/12/2008

In another case Pakistan’s blasphemy law is used in a personal vendetta. A Muslim employee sacked by his Christian employer turns against him with the result that the alleged offender spends five months in prison. However, during that time he received “courage and hope” from reading the Bible. Shahbaz Bhatti, minister of Minorities, is hopeful that this might lead to the release of more people unjustly accused of blasphemy.

Lahore (AsiaNews) – A Christian man acquitted on blasphemy charges was recently released but is in hiding for fear of retaliation from Muslim extremists. In Hafizabin Additional Session Judge Sardar Ahmad Makan on 4 November ruled in favour of Dr Robin Sardar, 55, after he had already spent five months in Gujranwala Central Jail. Had he been found guilty he could have received a life sentence or the death penalty.

Speaking to AsiaNews on the phone Sardar said: “Jesus has saved me and I thank God that I am still alive and in good health. Unfortunately, I have to live in hiding, changing places from time to time.”

The father of six said he was grateful to all the organisations and people who prayed and helped him during his trial.

“I was not tortured in prison. I spent my time in silence, reading the Bible, praying God,” Sardar said. “The Bible was my only strength in that time. Jesus said: ‘Don’t be afraid when people persecute you for My name.’ These words gave courage and hope.”

Robin Sardar was arrested in Hafizabad on 5 May after a Muslim man accused him of breaking the infamous blasphemy law which criminalises anyone who insults the Qur’an or the prophet Muhammad.

Once the accusation was made public Muslims extremist groups demanded that the accused be hanged. Eventually Dr Sandar’s family was forced into hiding for fear of retaliation.

The doctor’s accuser, Muhammad Bashir, was an employee in his clinic and had been fired for stirring animosity among other employees and spending much of his time talking about religion. A second witness against the doctor, Muhammad Rafic, who never met him, gave false testimony out of friendship for Bashir.

When the incident first occurred radical Muslims launched a campaign against Dr Sardar, inciting people against him through loudspeakers and speeches in mosques, demanding that he and his family be hanged, surrounding their home and threatening to torch it if he did not surrender to police. Fortunately he was saved by police, which intervened before he could be lynched, and was taken into prison.

As a free man Dr Sardar thanked Shahbaz Bhatti, minister of Minorities and chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), for the financial and legal aid he provided all through this period.

From Islamabad, Minister Batti told AsiaNews that Sardar’s release “is good news for all minorities and especially for Christians.”

The Catholic minister is optimistic that Dr Sandar’s acquittal might lead to the release of other people accused of blasphemy.

Since the law was introduced in 1986, 25 people have been killed because of it, not as a result of any legally mandated execution order but at the hands of religious extremists, sometimes even when the alleged offender was in police custody.

According to some sources, 892 people are presently charged with blasphemy.

Christian doctor accused of anti-Islam blasphemy freed (but in hiding)

[Shammu]

Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate
12 November 2008
By Jeni Harvey

A TEENAGER was brutally murdered by her boyfriend's Muslim flatmate because he did not approve of him going out with a Catholic.

Lidia Motylska, 19, was strangled in an alleyway in Leeds by Iraqi immigrant Abobakir Jabari who objected to his Kurdish flatmate's relationship with her.

Yesterday Jabari, 39, who was given British citizenship in 2005, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Crown Court to murdering the petite Polish teenager.

The court heard he garrotted her from behind, using the cord from his tracksuit bottoms, before inflicting "gratuitous" wounds on her lifeless body. He stabbed her repeatedly in the chest and stomach and slit her throat.

Sentencing Jabari to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 19-and-a-half years, Mr Justice McKinnon said the murder involved an exceptional degree of violence.

"There is a suspicion that you lured this young woman to her death and marked your disapproval of her and her relationship by gratuitous violence upon her," he said.

The court heard that Jabari grew up in Iraq and was conscripted to the Iraqi army but then deserted. He became involved with the Communist party and later helped opponents of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime flee to Syria.

He came to England in 1999 with his then wife, but they separated in 2003 and he went on to gain British citizenship.

In July 2004 he began working at Symphony Kitchens in Gelderd Lane, Leeds.

Through his work, he met both Miss Motylska and Ajeen Jabaridia, a fellow Kurdish Iraqi who moved in with him at a flat in Oatland Heights in the Little London area of the city.

But he was to become increasingly hostile when the pair became romantically involved.

Prosecuting, Simon Myerson QC said: "He disliked the fact that his Kurdish friend was going out with a Polish Catholic.

"He did not like Lidia to sleep at their flat. He disapproved of Lidia's behaviour in public and thought it seemed sexually provocative."

He went on: "He told her that Ajeen should not be seeing her because she was a Polish and Catholic girl."

Miss Motylska, who lived with her mother Renata in Beeston, Leeds, thought she might be pregnant with Mr Jabaridia's child, the court heard, though this turned out not to be the case.

On the evening of the murder in October last year, she had arranged to meet Jabari and got off a bus near his home at 6.45pm.

Ten minutes later, two passers-by called 999, reporting that they had seen a woman on the ground in an alleyway in Lincoln Green, with a man sitting over her "grunting" and holding her around the neck.

When police arrived at 7pm, the teenager was dead, with deep stab wounds and her throat slit "from ear to ear".

The judge said one explanation for the slash injuries to her abdomen could have been an "expression of disapproval at her pregnancy and her relationship".

Immediately after the attack, Jabari set about creating an alibi by inviting friends to his flat to watch Arsenal play Slavia Prague in a Champions League football match.

A keen Arsenal fan, Mr Jabaridia had tried to telephone his girlfriend each time the team scored, but got no reply.

He and Miss Motylska's mother reported the teenager missing the next day.

After the sentencing, Det Supt Bill Shackleton from West Yorkshire Police said: "This was a brutal and calculated murder."

The victim's family were too upset to speak.

Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate 

[Shammu]

US aid worker shot dead in Pakistan

16 hours ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A US development worker and his driver were shot dead on Wednesday in northwest Pakistan, where a wave of violence has been blamed on militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

They were ambushed in the provincial capital of Peshawar, in an area close to where a senior US diplomat in Pakistan, a close ally of Washington in the US-led "war on terror," escaped an assassination attempt in August.

"I can confirm that an American citizen and his Pakistani driver were killed in the attack," US embassy spokesman Wes Robertson told AFP.

"The attack is currently under investigation and we are coordinating with the local authorities," he said.

Officials said the American worked with FDP, a programme funded by the United States to help develop the lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border where Islamist militants have been flourishing.

"He was heading towards his office in the University Town area," when the ambush happened, said an FDP official who asked not to be named.

Peshawar, which is close to the Afghan border, has a population of more than 2.5 million people in addition to about 1.7 million Afghan refugees uprooted during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The city, capital of North West Frontier Province, is witnessing a surge in violence blamed on Taliban militants, as Pakistani troops have launched operations against guerrilla fighters in the frontier region.

US forces have also launched airstrikes in the region aimed at top militants which have caused friction with the new Pakistan government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who succeeded Pervez Musharraf earlier this year.

Musharraf turned Pakistan into a loyal US ally after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, when US forces invaded neighbouring Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden.

Many militants then fled to the rugged area on the Pakistan side of the border, much of which is effectively out of the control of the government and in the hands of Islamist fighters linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The Pakistan military's crackdown on the guerrillas -- forces moved into the tribal Bajaur region in August -- is unpopular with many in the region. Officials say the military campaign has left more than 1,500 people dead.

Militant attacks in Pakistan, the second-largest Muslim nation after Indonesia and the only one with the atomic bomb, are frequent.

Separately Wednesday, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled van into the gates of a school in a northwestern town, killing at least three paramilitary soldiers, police said.

The school, at Subhan Khaur village in Charsadda district, was not occupied by any children but was being used by security forces battling Taliban militants in the region, police official Marjan Ali told AFP.

"At least three paramilitary soldiers have been killed in the suicide attack," Ali said.

It was the second suicide attack in the area in 24 hours. A suicide bomber on Tuesday killed four people outside Peshawar's sports stadium.

The military said eight Taliban militants and one solider were also killed Wednesday in the northwestern Swat valley, where militants have been waging a bloody campaign to impose strict Islamic law.

The gunmen exchanged fire with troops engaged in an ongoing operation in the valley, which until the campaign began last year had been a popular tourist destination featuring the country's only ski resort.

"Eight miscreants were killed," a military official said. "One soldier embraced martyrdom."

US aid worker shot dead in Pakistan

[Shammu]

Cleric Urges British Muslims to 'Fight and Die for Islam'...
11th November 2008
By Tom Savage

BANNED hate cleric Omar Bakri told Brit Muslims they must “fight and die for Islam” as he dodged the law to preach his warped views in the UK.

Bakri, who was booted out of Britain after calling for the West’s downfall, addressed a meeting of young Muslims via a videolink from his Lebanon bolthole.

The revelation comes days after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith named and shamed foreign preachers who were barred from the UK.

But Bakri, who is on the list, sidestepped the law by not appearing at the east London meeting in person.

Instead he was announced as “a special surprise, a special treat”, beamed live on to a telly screen.

He was introduced to the crowd by his UK spokesman Anjem Choudary,  the former head of banned fanatics group al-Muhajiroun.

Choudary, who had booked the council-run room in Tower Hamlets for the event, told the gathering that taking over the UK was their “duty”.

He said: “It is our religious obligation to prepare ourselves both physically and mentally and rise up against Muslim oppression and take what is rightfully ours.

“We will not rest until the flag of Allah and the flag of Islam is raised above 10 Downing Street.”

He said there were only two types of proper Muslims – those in jail and those who would shortly be in jail.

He added: “We need to submit to the will of Allah.”

As the crowd of 250 Muslims chanted pro-Allah phrases, Choudary tried to link up to Bakri, 50, by video link.

The technology failed and only Bakri’s voice could be heard but his message of hate was unaffected.

He raged: “Do not obey British law. We must fight and die for Islam.”

He also praised Osama bin Laden for being a “warrior” and told the crowd to ignore man-made rules.

The police and Home Office said they were unsure if laws had been broken by allowing Bakri to address the four-hour meeting. And they could not confirm if Choudary, 41, who rents the room for £78 an hour for his new group Islam For The UK, was being investigated for his own words.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK is determined to stop those who spread extremism through preaching violent messages in our communities. It is for the police and Crown Prosecution Service to investigate any breach of the law.”

Choudary denied his plea to “rise up” was inciting violence.

He said: “By ‘rise up’ I mean ‘rise up and air your views’.”

Cleric Urges British Muslims to 'Fight and Die for Islam'...

[Shammu]

Woman Fired for Requesting 'Non-Turbaned' Taxi Driver...
12th November 2008

A BBC Radio presenter has been sacked following a 'racist' call to a taxi firm, in which she requested a 'non-Asian' driver.

Sam Mason told the operator that 'a guy with a turban would freak her daughter out'   insisting they send an English driver instead.

The ex-glamour girl, 40, called the firm to order a taxi for her 14-year-old daughter off-air, while presenting her BBC Bristol radio show.

After the operator branded her request 'racist', Mason insisted, claiming it wasn't the first time she had made the request.

She said: 'A guy with a turban is going to freak her out. She's not used to Asians.'

When the operator said it would not be possible to carry out her wishes, she said: 'You've managed it before.'

Mason, who has previously battled alcohol addiction, claimed she wasn't racist but insisted she was looking out for her daughter's interest.

Mason said: 'If it were me I wouldn't care if it had two heads, but it's my little girl we are talking about.'

After the operator refused to book a car, Mason complained before hanging up.

The operator said: 'We would class that as being racist. We can't just penalise the Asian drivers and just send an English one.'

She later called back before a manager accepted the booking.

Mason said: 'I work at the BBC. I'm far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one.'

The BBC were alerted to the conversation after it was recorded and sent to the Sun newspaper.

The mother-of-one was subsequently suspended and fired 24 hours later.

A BBC spokesman said: 'Although Sam Mason's remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable and, for that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect.'

Woman Fired for Requesting 'Non-Turbaned' Taxi Driver...

[Shammu]

Kurt Westergaard has illustrated a new book and includes a picture reminiscent of his contribution to the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoon series
11.11.2008

The man who was nearly killed for drawing a picture of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban plans to release another set of provocative cartoons as part of a new book from historian Lars Hedegaard.

Kurt Westergaard will contribute 26 illustrations to the new book, ‘Groft Sagt’ (Roughly Speaking), a collection of Hedegaard’s sardonic contributions to the Berlingkse Tidende newspaper column of the same name.

One of the cartoons features former Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, who took a stance against the original Mohammed cartoons, calling them a caricature of Denmark’s ‘cherished freedom of expression’.

In the new drawing, Ellemann-Jensen is pictured kneeling with an inkwell that reads ‘freedom of expression’. A black-bearded man with a bomb in his turban is peeking out from the inkwell.

Hedegaard told The Copenhagen Post that there was ‘no intention to depict the so-called prophet’, but that it is always possible for someone to interpret drawings in different ways. He was pleased with the Westergaard’s input and is not expecting any backlash.

Westergaard said that he has never been against Islam as a religion, but he takes issue with terrorists using a variation of Islam as their own ‘religious dynamite’. The 73-year-old remains unbothered by the potential furore his new drawings could cause, despite the need for him to remain under the protection of domestic security and intelligence agency PET.

Westergaard, who was given free reign to illustrate the writings he thought appropriate in the new book, returned home this summer after nine months in hiding. He had been living in police safe-houses after a plot to murder him for drawing one of the Mohammed cartoons in 2005 was uncovered.

The Supreme Court is currently handling the case of the two Tunisian men charged with the plot. One has left the country voluntarily and the other is facing an administrative deportation.

Kurt Westergaard has illustrated a new book and includes a picture reminiscent of his contribution to the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoon series
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmmmmmmmmmm, get ready for the muslims to riot again.................

[Shammu]

Turkish Minister Applauds 1923 Expulsion of Christians
NOV 12 2008

Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said on Tuesday he was misunderstood when he questioned whether there would be today's nation-state if Greeks and Armenians continued to live in Turkey.
Turkish minister says his remarks on minorities misunderstood

"If Greeks continued to live in the Aegean and Armenians continued to live in many places in Turkey, I wonder whether there would be today's nation-state," Gonul said as he emphasized the importance of last century’s population exchange between Turkey and Greece in his speech at the Turkish embassy in Brussels.

"I don't know how to tell you about the importance of this exchange. But if you look at the old balances, the importance of this would very clearly arise," he added.

Turkish media quoted Gonul on Tuesday as saying he had been misunderstood. The defence ministry declined to comment.

The 1923 Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey involved some two million people, most forcibly made refugees and de jure denaturalized from homelands of centuries or millennia, in a treaty promoted and overseen by the international community as part of the Treaty of Lausanne.

The exchange took place between Turkish nationals of the Greek Orthodox religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek nationals of the Muslim religion established in Greek territory. 

Turkish Minister Applauds 1923 Expulsion of Christians...

[Shammu]

2 Italian Catholic nuns kidnapped in Kenya

The Associated Press
Monday, November 10, 2008

MOGADISHU, Somalia: Gunmen firing automatic weapons dragged two Italian Roman Catholic nuns from their home in rural Kenya on Monday and drove them into lawless Somalia in a rare cross-border kidnapping, officials said.

The nuns  Maria Teresa Olivero, 60, and Caterina Giraudo, 67  were working on hunger and health programs in the northeastern town of El Wak, about six miles (10 kilometers) from the Somali border. The kidnapping highlights concerns among regional security officials that chaos in Somalia could lead to troubles in neighboring Kenya, which is struggling to patrol the long and porous border.

The early morning abduction began when six gunmen firing automatic weapons hurled a hand grenade and fired a rocket at Kenyan police, said Aden Mohamed Isaqm, a local aid worker. The gunmen then seized the nuns and drove them to the border in three stolen vehicles.

"I have seen two expatriates in a car with militia surrounding them," said witness Shacban Mohamed Ali. "The two foreigners were very shocked."

In Italy, the missionary movement of the two nuns said efforts were under way to contact the kidnappers and negotiate the captives' release.

The kidnappers "didn't go there looking for money or something else. They specifically aimed to take those people. We don't know if there are political or have other motives," said Father Pino Isoardi, the head of the Contemplative Missionary Movement of Father de Foucauld.

Speaking on Vatican radio, he said no contact had been made with the kidnappers. "However, we know that local elders and authorities are working to find a path to contact them," he said.

The movement was founded in Cuneo, northern Italy, in 1951, and later named after French Priest Charles de Foucauld, who worked as a missionary in Africa during the early 20th century.

The desert border of Somalia and Kenya where the kidnapping occurred is hundreds of miles (kilometers) long and crossed by thousands of Somali refugees every month.

American troops are training the Kenyan security forces in an effort to prevent extremists from crossing into the country.

Both sides of the arid border region are plagued by banditry and clashes among ethnic groups fighting for grazing and water rights. A recent drought has heightened tensions in an area awash with weapons smuggled from Somalia into Kenya.

The nuns had been working in Kenya for decades and were among the few non-Muslims in town, the Catholic Information Service said. They ran a small dispensary and offered medical care to malnourished children.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said its crisis unit was working to secure the nuns' freedom.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991, plunging the nation into chaos. For the past two years, a bloody Islamic insurgency has killed thousands of people, most of them civilians caught in the crossfire.

The current government is supported by Ethiopian troops, who ousted the Islamists from the capital and much of the south in December 2006.

The Catholic church has been the target of several attacks in Somalia, parts of which were once colonized by Italy.

In 2005, insurgents dug up remains in an Italian cemetery where around 3,000 people were buried, and threw them into the sea. The following year an Italian nun working in a hospital in the capital was shot dead. Earlier this year, residents of the southern town of Kismayo began destroying an abandoned Catholic church after the town was taken over by Islamic extremists.

2 Italian Catholic nuns kidnapped in Kenya 

[Shammu]

Two Children Murdered by Filipino Islamists
11-12-08

Four Dead, 5 Wounded In Southern Philippines Attacks

COTABATO, Philippines(AFP)--Four people, including two children, were killed in separate attacks by Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines over the weekend, officials said Sunday.

Gunmen believed to be Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels ambushed a private vehicle near the town of Pikit Sunday, killing a 12-year-old boy and a 10-year- old girl, provincial governor Jesus Sacdalan said.

Three teenagers and two other children below 10 years old were also wounded in the attack, he said.

"They were on their way to fetch their grandfather when they were attacked," Sacdalan said.

On Saturday, MILF rebels snatched two members of a local government militia unit, and later gunned them down in the province of Maguindanao, said the local army commander, Major Fernando Aguilar.

The MILF has been stepping up guerrilla attacks since August, when a court stopped a proposed deal with the government that would have given them powers over a Muslim autonomous area.

More than half a million people have been displaced in violence that followed, while dozens of civilians and soldiers were killed in the clashes.

President Gloria Arroyo subsequently suspended peace talks, and said negotiations would only resume if rebel commanders involved in the attacks were disarmed.

Two Children Murdered by Filipino Islamists

[Shammu]

Bali Bomber Imam Samudra folloowers plot murder
By Cindy Wockner and Gareth Trickey

Herald Sun
November 11, 2008 12:01am

Voice of evil ... executed Bali bomber Iman Samudra has urged from the grave that Muslims fill their lives with murder.

EXECUTED Bali bomber Imam Samudra has urged from the grave that his Muslim brothers should educate their children and grandchildren to become terrorists and killers of "kaffirs" (non-Muslims).

The chilling words are from the last will of Samudra, released in his home village in West Java where he was buried in a furious frenzy at the weekend.

Lacking any remorse or guilt, Samudra urged his fellow Muslims to fill their lives with the murder of non-believers, saying the title of terrorist was holier than that of Ulama or Muslim scholar.

He says: "For you who have committed yourself to fight against kaffir dogs, remember the war is not over."

He calls on others to fill their lives with murder of non-Muslims.

"Isn't it Allah who has ordered us to kill them all, just like they have killed us and our family? Have a desire to become the slaughterer of kaffir people. Educate your children and grandchildren to become terrorists and slaughterers of all Kaffir people."

Release of the will was accompanied by a photo on an extremist website of a dead Samudra, his face surrounded by the white burial shroud, his eyes closed. He appears to be biting his bottom lip.

His brother, Lulu Jamaludin, told Indonesian media that the purpose of the picture was "to awaken one billion mujahidin like Samudra".

"He wants to show to all Mujahidin that the man who struggled for Islam, that when he died he was smiling. He didn't feel pain. His death is a martyr's death," Jamaludin was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile a couple who cancelled a holiday in the wake of the Bali bombers' executions have been slugged with a $900 airline bill.

Maureen and Geoff Muntz abandoned their first holiday together in 13 years after the Department of Foreign Affairs warned against travelling to Indonesia following "credible information that terrorists could be planning attacks".

The couple, who were due to fly to Bali on Friday, booked the $2800 airfares two weeks ago through Flight Centre.

Ms Muntz said the travel agent told them they were not entitled to a full refund because the airline they booked with, Garuda, was not waiving charges for passengers who wanted to defer or cancel their flights.

"My husband is a very quiet man and doesn't really like leaving Australia," a tearful Ms Muntz said.

"I pleaded with him to come to Bali because I've been to Bali and loved it.

"This time was going to be special because my husband was going to come with me."

Indonesia is on high alert for terrorist attacks and mob violence, with authorities concerned about reprisals.

Virgin Blue and Jetstar are waiving charges for passengers who want to defer travel to Bali. But Flight Centre says some airlines, including Garuda, Indonesia's national carrier, are not.

Schoolies week in Bali has been cancelled, with organisers warning school leavers to stay away from Indonesia.

While the Federal Government stopped short of issuing its strongest travel warning, National Schoolies Week has told its members to cancel their end-of-year trips to the holiday island.

Indonesia yesterday urged Australia and other countries to respect its legal system following the executions.

"Please understand that the death penalty is still a part of our positive law," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.

"In relations between states, we must respect each other's legal systems."

Bali Bomber Imam Samudra folloowers plot murder

[Shammu]

Hate Preacher Trashes Tribute to British War Veterans
7th November 2008
By Steve Hughes and Emma Wall

A hate preacher sparked outrage last night by urging British Muslims not to wear poppies.

Anjem Choudary said any Muslim who wore the symbol of respect was betraying his religion and backing “British nationalism”.

Choudary, a right-hand man of exiled cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, 47, was responding to news that poppy sales were down in areas of the country with a high  population of Muslims.

The vast majority of Brits wear poppies to remember victims of all wars fought by British citizens, including Muslims.

But Choudary, 41, said: “This is not something we should be supporting. We are not sanctioned to support poppies by the Sharia law.

“We’re talking about the Second World War and this doesn’t have anything to do with Muslims.

Muslims are not allowed to participate in anything that is clearly British nationalism.” The call comes days after Choudary, whose family lives on £25,000-a-year benefits, warned British Muslims that giving sweets to children on Halloween is “the greatest crime any person can commit”.

But other British Muslims feel differently. Dewsbury MP ubgone19 Malik, the Government’s first-ever Muslim minister, said: “As patron of the Royal British Legion in Dewsbury I’ll be selling poppies in the town centre this Saturday.

“I think it’s really important to remember the freedoms we enjoy come at a price and sometimes the ultimate price.

“During the Second World War 2.5 million Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians formed the largest volunteer army in history and some of my relatives were prisoners of war of the Japanese in Burma.

“The truth is that no matter what your background, we all must remember that people died for this country and the freedoms we hold dear and that is why I’m proud to wear my poppy.”

Meanwhile, there was fury yesterday after it was revealed that Muslim strongholds have become no-go zones for poppy sellers.

A Daily Star inquiry showed a lack of support in certain areas in Leeds, Bradford, Dewsbury and Derby, where many shopkeepers claimed never to have heard of them.

But last night the English Democrats urged Brits to “wear their poppies with pride” and said the issue was a result of multiculturalism.

The group’s chairman, Robin Tillbrook, said: “The poppy signifies exactly what our ancestors did for us fighting for our country during the wars. It represents the sacrifice of millions of lives over the years and it is important for every generation to remember that.

“The problem with multiculturalism is that these people want to live in our country but don’t want to be a part of Britain’s culture and history.

“They should be willing to become Brits and wear our poppies with pride.”

Yesterday the Duke of Edinburgh, 87, honoured fallen servicemen and women by opening the Royal British Legion’s Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey.

And celebrities across the world have been backing the appeal with stars including Brad Pitt, 44, and Angelina Jolie, 33, and classical singer Katherine Jenkins, 28, wearing their poppies with pride.

This year a whopping 38million poppies have been ordered – 2m up on last year and 10m more than 10 years ago.

Hate Preacher Trashes Tribute to British War Veterans...

[Shammu]

Islam Using Children As Human Bombs

By Brooke Goldstein & Danielle Goldstein
11.12.08

On Monday, a 13-year-old female child blew herself up in central Baghdad, killing 28 and wounding 68. Among those killed were male and female students; a tragedy of immense proportions. Suicide-homicide attacks by female bombers, the handicapped, and children, the last often detonated by remote control, are an increasing trend this year. Sadly this latest example of perverse child abuse is a symptom of a much greater problem.

The incitement and recruitment of innocent Muslim children to become child soldiers, human bombs, and human shields is occurring in varying degrees throughout the Muslim and Western world. In Pakistan, Iran, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia, children are being systematically targeted through school textbooks, television programs, music videos, cartoons, the Internet, by their teachers and Imams, with hate propaganda aimed at building the next generation of Jihadis. These children are being harvested by terrorist groups like ripe fruit, driven across borders and detonated by adults as deadly political pawns.

U.S. intelligence analysts recently reported that Islamic terrorist groups are enlisting growing numbers of teenagers for their most violent and deadliest of missions. The Taliban is recruiting children as young as seven for their suicide missions, while approximately 20% of all Palestinian suicide bombings since the second intifada have been aged 18 and younger. During his last visit to the United States, Afghan President Karzai's pardoned a six year old who was told his bomb-belt would explode flowers. A couple of months ago, England's MI5 Seized DVDs being marketed to London-born Muslim youth encouraging them to commit violent suicide attacks, while Al Manar, a Hezbollah-run network, continues to be broadcast throughout the EU, preaching hate and enlisting children to murder for the sake of jihad

The Islamic Maghreb, an off-shoot of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network (AQIM), has gone as far as formerly launching a group called the "Young People of Paradise," which has mobilized a collection of 14 to 16 year olds currently training for suicide assignments.

Islamic terrorist groups turning to children and the handicapped do so, in part, to thwart security checks, but the phenomenon may be a sign they are losing support among adult males, who may be realizing the futility of the act. Children also prove cheaper recruits than adults who demand significant payments for their surviving family members, and in the Palestinian context, for a house that may be demolished.

UNFORTUNATELY, THE SYSTEMATIC and intentional state-sponsored mass infanticide of Muslim children remains largely under-reported by the media and under-condemned by human rights groups. On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League hosted its annual conference, this time entitled "Is Peace Possible," at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City. Panelist, Shibley Telhami, an Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and board member of Human Rights Watch (HRW), was asked by an audience member about the role education plays in determining the future of a peaceful greater Middle East. Apprehensive of acknowledging the issue, Telhami shamefully blamed the questioner of accusing Palestinian parents of not loving their children and apologetically concluded that hate education wasn't as grave a problem as the questioner made it out to be.

Asked why HRW and other organizations have not consistently condemned or advocated against the use of Muslim children as human bombs, Telhami ignored the question. Such denial and refusal to condemn the practice unequivocally gives the green light to terrorists to continue this practice with impunity.

President-elect Obama has a moral duty to address the international problem of hate education aimed at Muslim children, a nonpartisan and central issue in this war on Islamist terror.

Islam Using Children As Human Bombs

[Shammu]

Somali Islamists seize port as insurgency gains

An increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency is advancing toward Somalia's seaside capital, capturing town after town and seizing territory from the weak U.N.-backed government often without firing a shot.

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY
November 12, 2008
Associated Press Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya —

An increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency is advancing toward Somalia's seaside capital, capturing town after town and seizing territory from the weak U.N.-backed government often without firing a shot.

But analysts say the hardline militants cannot achieve their ultimate goal of laying siege to Mogadishu, the capital, while powerful Ethiopian troops remain stationed in the once-beautiful city on the shore of the Indian Ocean.

Somalia's two-year insurgency has already killed thousands and will likely continue as fighters consolidate territory, undermining peace talks between more moderate opposition members and the government. The U.N. has tried to advance the talks, but a recent deal seems only to have worsened the violence.

Militants from Al-Shabab - which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization - have refused to take part in the peace talks, saying Ethiopians troops that support the government must leave first. The group aims to impose Shariah law on Somalia.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a socialist dictator and turned their clan-based militias on each other. After decades of violence, half the population is expected to be dependent on aid by the end of the year.

The United States worries that Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, particularly since Osama bin Laden has declared his support for the Islamists. It accuses al-Shabab of harboring the al-Qaida-linked terrorists who allegedly blew up the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

On Wednesday, al-Shabab added the town of Merka, 56 miles (90 kilometers) from the capital, to its list of conquests after poorly paid government fighters simply ran away.

The group now controls most of the country's south, with the crucial exceptions of Mogadishu and Baidoa, where the parliament sits.

"Nearly 200 heavily armed fighters loyal to al-Shabab, with several vehicles mounted with machine-guns, have moved into our town early this morning unopposed," witness Abdi-Nur Haji Muridi said in an interview from Merka.

Al-Shabab was part of the Islamic militia that controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months in 2006 before Ethiopian troops arrived to drive them out with the tacit support of the United States.

The group quickly fractured into hardline and more moderate factions. Al-Shabab's hard-liners are at the heart of the insurgency, which has killed thousands of civilians caught up in roadside bombs, grenade attacks and mortar fire.

The U.S. sent some special operations troops with the Ethiopian forces in 2006 and in early 2007 conducted several airstrikes in an attempt to kill suspected al-Qaida members.

advertising

Meanwhile, al-Shabab has been setting up its own administrations that adhere to strict Islamic law. In Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, fighters recently stoned a girl to death before thousands of spectators, accusing her of adultery.

Human Rights Watch, citing the girl's father, later reported she was a 13-year-old rape victim.

Even in Mogadishu, where the government is nominally in control, al-Shabab fighters recently used leather straps to lash accused thieves in front of hundreds of people. It was a clear message that the government has failed to stop crime.

The capture of Merka could be disastrous for food shipments as the city's port and airstrip are key conduits for aid workers. Peter Smerdon, the Nairobi, Kenya-based spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program, said the situation in Merka was calm Wednesday and WFP planned to continue using the port to ship in food.

Taking the capital would be the Islamists' ultimate victory, but the al-Shabab militants know the Ethiopians' superior firepower would devastate them. In 2006, the Islamists simply scattered into the bush or went underground rather than face Ethiopia's helicopter gunships.

Instead, al-Shabab appears to be settling for taking as much territory it can get, chipping away at the Ethiopian and Somali soldiers bit by bit. Earlier this week, the Islamists captured two towns in southern Somalia, Qoryoley and Bul Marer, and a town lying on a strategic crossroads in central Somalia.

Rashid Abdi, an a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank, said al-Shabab is clearly a "potent military force" but the Ethiopians' firepower is a looming deterrent.

"Most of the towns they have taken recently are soft targets," he said. "They are not as heavily defended as Mogadishu and Baidoa. It is too early to say this new al-Shabab faction will now march toward Mogadishu."

The Ethiopian regime says it wants to withdraw, but its opponents say it has calculated that an open-ended occupation of Somalia is better than having a radical Islamist regime next door.

Many Somalis consider al-Shabab far more disciplined than government soldiers and some enjoy the relative calm the Islamists bring. The insurgents frighten people into submission with public executions but also cut down on theft and other petty crime.

"They don't point their guns at us, like the government soldiers do," said Ahmed Duale, a resident of Merka.

Another resident, Abdi Yusuf Jimale, said the militants leave people alone if they submit to Islamic law.

"And," he said, "they don't steal our mobile phones like the government soldiers do."

Somali Islamists seize port as insurgency gains