Ah, if only the Israelis will relent, there will be peace and tolerance....
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A disgruntled Muslim employee opened fire Wednesday on fellow employees killing eight people and wounding five before being arrested.
A financial dispute was behind the shooting, but others, noting the gunman was Muslim and most of his victims not, questioned whether religious reasons contributed to the violence.
Police chief Koleilat said the gunman, who had worked for the fund for 23 years, went methodically through offices, shooting.
Koleilat told reporters at the scene that the attacker tried to conceal himself by mixing in the crowd and later tried to run.
Education Minister Murad said the gunman was angry that the compensation fund sought repayment of a loan.
They asked him to sell his car, he sold it, got upset and came and committed his crime, Murad said.
George Saade of the teachers' union whose daughter-in-law was among the dead, was yelling outside the building: "He killed the Christian employees. How can we live in this country?"
07/31/02
India
Terrorism in Kashmir hasn't ended
Kyodo News
TOKYO 7/8 Indian Defense Minister Fernandes said Monday terrorism emanating from Pakistan continues in Kashmir, but vowed that "free and fair" assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, will be held on schedule in October "despite whatever threats."
Fernandes told a press conference in Tokyo that cross-border terrorism has continued despite Pakistani President Musharraf's "solemn promise" in early June that he would put a "permanent" stop to infiltration and close militant training camps in Pakistan.
GAZA
Gaza Strip - Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin joined more than 1,000 Palestinians at a rally Friday despite being placed under house arrest by Palestinian authorities.
The militant Muslim Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for a bus bombing in Jerusalem last week that killed 19 people.
The crowd waved flags and carried green Hamas banners; Gunmen fired M-16 rifles in the air.
06/28/02
Asia-Pacific
7-27-02 At least 51 people have been injured after explosions ripped through a busy market in the Indonesian city of Ambon in the Moluccas islands.
The blasts occurred in a busy shopping area in a Christian neighbourhood of the divided city at about 09:00.on's information department.
A local journalist told Reuters the victims included a one-year-old baby and a four-year-old girl. "There was blood everywhere," he said.
Israel
Teenage Bomber Gets Life
JERUSALEM AP - An Israeli military court sentenced a 16-year-old Palestinian from Hamas to life in prison for trying to blow himself up when confronted by Israeli police, the first time a bomber was brought to trial.
The teenager pressed a button and pulled at electrical wiring on an explosives belt he was wearing as he was approached by police in February, but the device did not explode.
The teen, who had confessed that under Hamas instructions he planned to blow up an Israeli commuter bus, was convicted of attempted manslaughter.
The judges rejected arguments from the teenager's lawyer, Ahmed Sharab, who asked for a five-year prison term because of his client's youth and the fact no one was hurt.
"THIS IS ABSURD THAT SOMEONE WHO AGREED TO LOSE HIS LIFE IS SUDDENLY SHOWING INTEREST IN LIFE AND EXCITEDLY DEMANDING A SHORT JAIL SENTENCE," the judges wrote.
The youth said he joined Hamas at age 12 and was asked by an activist in the militant Islamic movement in February to carry out a suicide bomb attack.
A 16-year-old from Bethlehem was the youngest suicide bomber in the last 21 months of fighting. He blew himself up in a crowd of elderly Russian immigrants playing cards just south of Tel Aviv on May 22.
Since September 2000, 71 suicide attacks have killed 251 Israelis.
06/28/02
Pakistan
Pakistani Police say they have arrested 29 in connection with the stoning to death of a man accused by a Muslim cleric of blasphemy.
Traditional law exists side-by-side with Islamic and civil law in Pakistan.
The villager was dragged out of his house and executed before a crowd of at least 250 people, residents said, after the Muslim cleric ruled he had blasphemed the Koran.
Police said Zahid had previously been formally charged under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law, but had been acquitted on the basis of a medical report that said he was deranged.
Muslims believe Mohammad was the last prophet and the blasphemy law imposes the death penalty for anyone who claims otherwise.
Last week, an Islamic cleric ordered his followers to kill a visiting Pakistani-American, Faraz Jawed, who objected to the cleric's criticism of the US and Pakistani government at a prayer meeting, police said.
Human rights groups have voiced outrage over the increasing number of informal tribunals used in the country to settle matters outside the courts, and have urged the government to act.
"We are concerned over the growing tendency of informal Islamic tribunals, taking law into their own hands and delivering justice in a mediaeval way," said Khattack, Chairman of independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
7/10
Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Islamic clerics representing thousands of religious schools in Pakistan threatened to launch nationwide demonstrations to protest new laws that would regulate their finances, the enrollment of overseas students and prevent the teaching of Islamic extremism.
The schools refuse to identify the sources of their funding, a key demand by the government.
Some of Pakistan's madrassas are considered key training grounds of Islamic militancy.
The plan has outraged many Muslim religious leaders, who say government interference with Muslims is illegal and against the spirit of Islam.
Madrassas operate with no state supervision and in many schools learning focusses more on rote memorization of Arabic religious texts than social sciences and other important subjects.
United States
A spokesman for Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that Sulayman Bilal Zain-ul-abidin, founder of Sakina Security Services, offered terrorist courses in the United States for Muslims.
After mastering explosive devices, young Muslims would squeeze off thousands of rounds at a shooting range in Alabama before heading off to fight for Islamic causes around the world. Any serious firearms training was done in the United States because of British gun laws.
Abidin was arrested Oct. 1 and charged with providing training for firearms, explosives chemical, biological and nuclear, and inviting others to undergo such training. Muslims also learned how to use Uzi machine guns at the camp.
Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, Islamic leader in London and a founder of the fundamentalist al-Muhajiroun organization, told the Telegraph that between 1,800 and 2,000 British Muslims were going abroad each year for military training.
"We find young men in university classes or mosques, invite them for a meal and discuss attacks by Muslims in Chechnya, Israel, India, ..." the newspaper quoted Bakri Mohammed as saying. "We make them understand their duty to support the jihad (holy war) struggle verbally, financially and, if they can, physically in order to liberate homeland."
7/24/02
Iran
TEHRAN - An Islamic court banned the leading opposition party today jailing more than 40 leaders for as long as 10 years each. The court, controlled by unelected Islamic clerics, said elected Freedom Movement leaders acted against national security with the intention of "overthrowing the establishment" despite their landslide 1997 election.
7/26/02
India
JAMMU 7/14 - Tensions between India and Pakistan flared anew Sunday when Islamic militants massacred 27 Hindu civilians, including a child, in a slum in Kashmir.
Yemen
SANAA - A Yemeni group on Sunday called for the release of 131 militants being held for having links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Yemen, once seen as a haven for Islamic militants, has been hunting down supporters of al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Yemen said in May it was holding 85 people with links to Islamic Jihad, a militant group operating in several Middle Eastern countries.
7/7/02
France
Still hopes to create Muslim goverenment council.
7-15-02
Need for dialogue between France and resident Muslims has become apparent.
After 2 1/2 years of talks answers cannot be found. The conflict appears among France's Muslims themselves.
Elections leading to the creation of the Muslim Council of France were twice postponed because of bickering between mosques. The power struggles are undermining the government's desire to create an Islamic France, and the hope of bringing millions of Islamic immigrants into France's political mainstream.
France has Europe's largest Muslim community - about 5 million - half of whom are not French citizens. Ms. Mignon, in charge of the talks, says that fundamentalism remains a danger: "If we fail to integrate Islam into French society, then radical Islam will flourish, she hopes to set up elections to the Islamic council by November.
Muslims are demanding many concerns be addressed on the national level in order to "welcome Islam more appropriately":
public schools to serve only non-pork dishes
subsidize the market for Halal meat
all municipal cemeteries to follow Muslim burial practices and time tables
power to grant their own permits to build mosques
more political seats
1905 French law separates church and state, forbids government financing of religion,
so mosques are built with cash from Morocco, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia creating a delicate situation for the French government.
France
PARIS - France's Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy warned Muslim leaders Thursday that the government would not tolerate any rise in fundamentalism as they struggled to pick representatives for their Muslim community.
Ethnic and religious splits in France's Muslim population, the largest in Western Europe, have so far deadlocked attempts to bind together all Muslims in a national organization like those that French Catholics, Protestants and Jews have accomplished here in France.
He warned that Islamic fundamentalists should not be allowed to hijack the process, as some fear will eventually happen.
"My responsibility as an elected official and minister is to prevent the Republic from supporting fundamentalism," he said, according to a copy of his speech: "Muslim Fundamentalism isolates, prevents individual fulfillment and divides society."
06/20/02
Algeria
ALGIERS - A wave of explosions marred Algeria's independence day celebrations on Friday with the most deadly blast ripping through a crowded open-air market outside the capital killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens.
The market blast was the deadliest attack in two years in the African nation, which is battling a 10-year Muslim insurgency.
7/5/02
Philippines - Indonesia
MANILA - Intelligence officials tell CNN that Osama bin Laden wanted to move the base of operations for his al Qaeda terrorist network to Southeast Asia in 2000.
The plan was to move the base to Aceh in Indonesia where members of the Free Aceh movement GAM are working.
Aceh is a remote Muslim province in which rebels have been fighting for a separate Islamic state in Southeast Asia.
Philippines
Muslim rebels kidnap 4 Indonesians, seize coal
ZAMBOANGA June 18 (Reuters) - Muslim guerrillas seized four Indonesian seamen including the captain of a Singaporean-owned tugboat in southern Philippines, shipping officials said on Tuesday.
Shots were fired then boarded the boat on Monday as it towed a load of coal near Basilan Island, 900 km (560 miles) south of Manila.
Basilan is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels network. They are being hunted by Philippine troops with the help of U.S. special forces.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels are fighting for an Islamic State in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines, but pursue kidnapping as their main activity.
According to the six Indonesians, there were 11 guerrillas using three speedboats.
Indonesia
JAKARTA, July 9 (Reuters) - Indonesia's chief security minister flew to troubled Aceh on Tuesday and said the government would decide next month whether to scrap peace talks with muslim rebels and take action that could include imposing martial law.
The terrorist group Free Aceh Movement GAM has been fighting for independence in Aceh.
Brussels-based International Crisis Group has said some 2,000 people were killed by GAM in 2001, most of them civilians.
Egypt
CAIRO, July 6 A leader of Egypt's biggest militant group and brother of one of the killers of President Anwar Sadat is attempting alleviate the conditions of the killers still in detention by working with the Egyptian government.
The jailed leaders of al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) gained infamy for the 1997 massacre of 58 tourists in the southern city of Luxor.
For the past five years, Egypt has managed to keep a lid on militant violence after crushing a bloody 1992-1997 fight by the Gama'a and other militant groups to overthrow the government and install a purist Islamic state.
Egypt
CAIRO, Egypt A Muslim militant, wanted by Egypt for his role in an assassination bid on President Hosni Mubarak, has returned home after being assured he would not be prosecuted, an Islamic activist said Monday.
He said Ghamry, 36, who is a suspected member of Egypt's biggest Islamic militant group, al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, arrived from an un-named Arab country.
06/24/02
Egypt
CAIRO, State prosecutors question the co-founder of Egypt's biggest Muslim militant group GAMA on Thursday who is now accused of promoting violence, a newspaper said.
Salah Hashem, who helped found al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (Gama Islamic Group) in the early 1970s, was arrested in his southern hometown of Sohag earlier this week.
The GAMA's won international infamy after its members massacred 58 foreigners and four Egyptians at a tourist site near the town of Luxor November 1997.
7-13-02
Tunisian
DUBAI (Reuters) - A known al Qaeda spokesman said in a voice recording broadcast Sunday that the militant group was behind a deadly suicide attack at a Tunisian church and warned of fresh attacks against the United States in "months."
06/23/02
United States
BOSTON - A British man and self-avowed Muslim militant confessed to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives in his shoes, a federal judge said on Friday.
6-21-02
Saudi Arabia
RIYADH - A car bomb explosion killing a man in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
"You can't help feeling more vulnerable, especially if you are working for a Western company," said one worker.
Most Westerners in Saudi Arabia live in high-security compounds. They have received several warnings from their embassies to keep a low profile.
7-20-02
Egypt
CAIRO, June 19 - For Egypt's Islamic militants, the past may just be prologue.
Two powerful organisations waging a violent campaign to overthrow the Egyptian state may become the new face of militant Islam, part of a loosely knit network of extremists which could be tapped by other such groups to assist in waves of terror attacks against Western targets.
"A new type of terrorism is emerging," said Said Sadek, an Egyptian political sociologist, describing a shift from structured groups to shadowy links between scattered extremists.
"With these Egyptian ad hoc constellations, you don't have to work within an organisational structure anymore. You can do outsourcing, in terms of fund raising, targetting and bringing people together," he said.
Analysts trace the birth of political Islam back to the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928. Dissent has since been fueled by Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Sadek said Egypt has also played a dangerous game of using religion as a means to provide legitimacy for the government.
"There was a deliberate policy since the 1970s encouraging the religious right. But you can't control it. Once you give this heavy religious dose to society, you'll get a reaction."
Asia
terror network exists in S.E. Asia
Kyodo News Service
KUALA LUMPUR - Suspects detained by Malaysian authorities admitted Tuesday to the existence of a regional Islamic militant network, Malaysia's official news agency Bernama reported.
Members of Jemaah Islamiah JI were involved in a plot to overthrow the government through military means as charged by the government.
Both are currently being held for two years in the Kamunting detention camp in northern Perak state under the Internal Security Act.
Their aim, the authorities say, is to set up a regional Islamic State.
Singapore has also detained at least a dozen members for plotting to blow up interests in the island republic.
Another two detainees who testified in the inquiry -- Mohammad Zulkifli Mohammad Zakaria, 33, and Mat Salleh Said, 31, both religious school teachers -- admitted to belonging to another Islamic militant group, the so-called Malaysia Mujahiddeen Group, or KMM in Malay.
Both said they learned how to use weapons in Afghanistan during their five-year stint as students of Islamic studies in Pakistan.
6-18-02
Thailand
BANGKOK, May 8 - Thailand said it would join Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in a pact to fight terrorism and defeat a militant network they say is bent on creating a single regional Islamic state.
Singapore has said it is willing to help anti-terror efforts under the agreement but has so far stopped short of joining it.
Malaysia has been battling small Muslim rebel groups in the country's south for years.
About 10 percent of Thailand's 62 million people are Muslim and most live along the southern border with Malaysia.
Thailand
BANGKOK, July 8 - A bomb tore through a parked passenger railway coach in southern Thailand on Monday injuring a policeman and security guard.
The train had just arrived in Yala province from Narathiwat where passengers had disembarked. Both provinces border Malaysia.
About a dozen Thai police have been killed in violence in Thailand's Muslim-dominated southern provinces since the start of the year.
Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 - Malaysia's Federal Court is expected to deliver its verdict on former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim for conviction for abuse of power, his lawyer said.
Anwar was found guilty in April 1999 on four counts of abuse power related to attempts to interfere in investigations.
Anwar allied himself with the Parti-Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), which has made a mission out of trying to impose harsh Islamic laws in multicultural Malaysia, where Muslim's are only a fraction of the ethnic backgrounds found in the area.
Prime Minister Mahathir's stock has risen because of his strong stand against Islamic militancy. More than 60 suspected militants have been arrested in just over a year, including several PAS supporters.
Italy
ROME June 18 Italian anti-terrorism officials are investigating more than 500 people linked to Islamic militant groups and have warned of "proselytism and recruiting" in mosques, cultural centres, universities and prisons.
The director of Italy's penal administration, Giovanni Tinebra, told La Repubblica that 27 percent of the country's prison population was Muslim. "Bin Laden for many of them is turning into an idol," he added.
According to the report, Islamic extremists have a strong foothold in major cities across the country, including Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Turin and Naples.
Italy
MILAN - Courts have cracked down on what police and prosecutors have said are radical Islamic groups based in the northern Italian city.
One member was recorded speaking about an attack involving chemicals, according to transcripts of telephone conversations gathered by prosecutors and seen by Reuters.
Italy has been one of the European countries where a crackdown on Muslim extremists has been very pronounced.
07/03/02
Germany
HAMBURG July 6 - A man investigated in a crackdown on suspected Islamic extremists in Hamburg, the city where three September 11 suicide hijackers lived, had been working for the police, police said on Saturday.
Police searched six apartments and a bookstore on Wednesday near a mosque that investigators described as a central gathering point for extremists.
"They were joining an organisation whose basic principle was committing aggressive militant Islamic attacks," the public prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe said in a statement.
Mohammad Atta, behind the September 11 attackers on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was a student in Hamburg for much of the 1990s, as were two other lead hijackers.
Atta often prayed at the mosque near the bookstore that was searched on Wednesday.
Iraq
Violent clashes between Iraqi Kurds and militant Islamists have erupted in northern Iraq, killing more than 20 people.
Gunbattles broke out late last week between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Islamic militants aligned with the shadowy Jund al-Islam.
"The Kurds have taken many attacks on their civilians by radical Islamists who have been active for some time in the region, especially around the city of Halabja," the official said.
07/08/02
Iraq
June 29 - A restaurant bombing in Kurdish-run northern Iraq wounded 20 people, two seriously, a northern Iraqi Kurdish official said on Saturday.
The blast damaged the restaurant on Wednesday in Arbil, a city controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, a KDP official in Arbil told Reuters by telephone.
Sources in Arbil said police were investigating members of Jund al-Islam, a militant Islamic group that has clashed repeatedly with them.
Turkey
DIYARBAKIR July 2 - Gunmen on Tuesday killed the mayor of a town in southeastern Turkey, the scene of previous attacks by Islamic militants, officials said.
Militant Islamists hoping to topple the Turkish government in the Muslim populated area of Turkey have been accused of torturing and murdering hundreds in the southeast since the 1980s.
Belgium
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium said Tuesday it could cut off funding for "radical" mosques spreading anti-Western feelings among the country's Islamic community.
A Justice Ministry spokesman said the expression of such "radicalism" in mosques could be a factor for cutting off funding.
Justice Minister Marc Verwilghen defined Islamic radicalism as "the preaching of anti-Western ideas, rejecting the idea of integrating Muslims into society, and in certain, very specific preaching hatred against all non-Muslims."
Last month, secret service testimony said Belgium was a recruiting ground for Islamic militants and that mosques were being used to spread militant ideas..
06/25/02
Arafat Child Camps
gamla.org.il |
