Islamist terror to start the new year in Egypt, Nigeria

Many dead in Nigerian bomb attacks

A series of new bomb attacks, including on the market in the Nigerian capital of Abuja where New Year is usually celebrated, claimed a number of lives Friday evening.

The BBC reported at least 11 dead, citing military officials. Nigerian television reported about 30 deaths.

The other target of the bombing was a church.At least 80 people died Christmas Eve in an attack on Christians in the central town of Jos.

On Wednesday, Islamists were suspected in the killing of five people in Nigeria's north, in Maiduguri in the state of Borno.

Over the past year, repeated clashes between Muslims and Christians - who each make up about half the population - have claimed hundreds of lives

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/jan/010111-bomb-attacks-Nigerian-capital-Abuja.htm

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Bomb Hits New Year's Mass in Egypt; 21 Dead

CAIRO—A car bomb detonated outside a church in the northern port city of Alexandria early Saturday, killing more than 20 and injuring dozens.

The attack struck Christian worshippers as they were leaving midnight mass at the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria. The death toll shot up sharply Saturday morning, from an early estimate by officials of just seven.

By midday, Egypt's state media reported 21 dead and 43 injured. Egypt's interior ministry said the bombing was a suicide attack.

Outraged parishioners clashed with riot police and Muslims at a nearby mosque shortly after the bombing, according to some reports. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said protesters stormed the mosque, throwing books inside onto the street. Both sides threw stones and bottles at each other, the AP reported.

The bombing comes amid a recent uptick in sectarian tensions in Egypt, where approximately 10% of the population is Coptic Orthodox Christian. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday called on the country's Copts and Muslims to stand united against terrorism.

While Egyptian Christians often complain of discrimination, they normally enjoy peaceful relations with the country's Muslim majority. But recent provocative comments by religious leaders on both sides have triggered demonstrations and violence.

Throughout the fall, hard-line Salafi Islamists have gathered for weekly demonstrations in front of churches in Alexandria, demanding that Coptic authorities release two women they accuse the church of holding against their will. The Islamists accuse the church of holding the women because they sought to convert to Islam. The Coptic church denies holding the two against their will but has kept them in seclusion.

A high-level Christian bishop contributed to tensions when he told a church gathering in September that Muslims were "guests" in Egypt, because the Christian presence in the country predates Islam by several hundred years.

In November, Christians rioted in a Cairo suburb after police intervened to stop construction of a new church building, citing a lack of proper permission, and state security authorities arrested 152 Coptic protesters.

Nearly a year ago, three gunmen opened fire on parishioners as they left a mass for Coptic Christmas, which Egyptians celebrate in early January, at a church in the southern Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. The drive-by shooting killed six Christians and one Muslim security guard.

Egyptian sectarian tensions crossed borders in late October when an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group in Iraq attacked a Christian church in Baghdad, killing dozens. Members of the militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq, held church-goers hostage while demanding that Egypt's Coptic church release the two women allegedly held against their will.

The Iraqi group called on faithful Muslims to attack any Christians, who it said were "legitimate targets." Violent attacks on Iraq's dwindling Christian population have continued.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703384504576055213837036504.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

Islamists at work also in Afghanistan, Pakistan:

Violence, tradition keep millions of Afghans from school


KABUL (Reuters) - Worsening security and enduring conservative Islamic customs prevented almost five million Afghan children from going to school in 2010, a government official said on Saturday.

The strict Islamist Taliban were ousted from power by U.S.-backed Afghan forces nearly a decade ago, but many women are still not able to work outside the home and girls are prevented from attending school in remote parts of the country.

Under the Taliban, women were barred from accessing health care and education and made to wear burqas covering them from head to toe. Only boys were allowed to attend school. Many of these customs are still widespread.

Girls have had acid thrown in their faces while walking to school by hardline Islamists who object to female education. Several girls' schools, including some in Kabul, have also been hit by mysterious gas poisonings blamed on Islamists.

Asif Nang, spokesman for the minister of education, said of 12 million eligible children, only seven million attended school.

"This is an alarming figure for us and the government is doing its best to pave the way for them," Nang told Reuters.

Violence is at its worst across Afghanistan with record deaths on all sides of the near-decade long conflict between Afghan and foreign forces and a Taliban-led insurgency.

Nang said that aside from the violence, the problem was made worse by a lack of female teachers in remote parts of the country where families were reluctant to allow their daughters to be taught by a male teacher.

"Out of 364 districts in Afghanistan, there are no female teachers in more than 200 districts." he said.

In large parts of southern and eastern Afghanistan -- Taliban strongholds -- families still did not want their daughters educated, Nang said.

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE7000O620110101

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Blasphemy law protests in Pakistan



Businesses shut down and buses stayed off the streets in many parts of Pakistan yesterday as thousands rallied against changing the country's controversial laws against blasphemy.

In one major city, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators who pelted them with stones.

Pakistan's long-standing law against blasphemy gained new attention in November when a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet Mohamed.

She is believed to be the first woman condemned to die under the statute, and her plight has caused outrage among human rights activists and Christian organisations who say the blasphemy laws are too often abused.

Islamist groups called for the strikes and rallies yesterday despite assurances by the embattled ruling Pakistan People's Party that it would not pursue any changes to the law.

Except in the big cities, Pakistanis often observe Friday – an important day of worship – as a day off instead of the official Sunday. Religious groups often take advantage of that by calling for strikes on Friday.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/blasphemy-law-protests-in-pakistan-2173382.html

Longer and even more disturbing article here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2013818098_pakistan01.html

 

Much better than hitting the fuze!

 

In principle, I agree with you, but who "isolates the religion and attacks it"...the ones who abuse its name to murder people, or the ones who report it?

 

Can you name more significant terrorist attacks by anyone else that have happened between Dec. 31 and now? And can you name a more significant oppression of followers of other religions and of women than what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan right now?