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Palm Sunday suicide bombing injures worshipers at Indonesian cathedral
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Indonesian police stand guard as they seal the area after an explosion outside a church in Makassar, Indonesia
on March 28, 2021. | Indra Abriyanto/AFP via Getty Images
More than a dozen people were injured when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Catholic church in the Muslim-majority archipelago of Indonesia on Palm Sunday, the first day of the Holy Week.
The bomb exploded in front of the Cathedral Church in the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi province at about 10.30 a.m. on Sunday as the church was preparing for its third service, according to reports.
Agence-France Presse quoted local police as saying that at least 14 people were wounded in the bombing.
“There were two people riding on a motorbike when the explosion happened at the main gate of the church. The perpetrators were trying to enter the compound,” National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono was quoted as saying.
"The bike was destroyed and there are body parts,” he added. “We're still collecting parts and trying to identify the sex of the perpetrators."
A priest at the church, Father Wilhelmus Tulak, told Indonesian media that a security guard dealt with one suspected bomber who came on a motorbike and tried to get into the church. The incident happened after the second mass was completed.
Many churchgoers were injured after the explosion shattered glasses inside the church, he said.
“The third round was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and we heard the explosion before [the mass] began,” Wilhelmus told Beritasatu TV.
Footage from a nearby security camera shows fire and smoke after a powerful blast occurred on the road outside the church, The Jakarta Globe reported, adding that the traffic in front of the church was thin.
Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas condemned the attack.
“Whatever the motive is, this attack cannot be justified by any religion because it only does harm to other people,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “The police need to increase security profile around worship places to make sure people can observe their faith peacefully. This kind of violence can potentially rip apart the well-established harmony among our societies.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
According to BBC, the explosion happened at the church’s side entrance. Makassar Mayor Danny Pomanto said there could have been more casualties had the explosion occurred at the church’s main entrance.
A pastor from Bandung told International Christian Concern that police alerted churches in Indonesia to stay vigilant after the bombing. According to the nonprofit advocacy group, police conducted patrols and bolstered security at churches nationwide.
“As Christians around the world prepare themselves for the Holy Week, it is pure evil that the terrorists deliberately chose this time to attack and inflict suffering on Christians,” ICC’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia Gina Goh said in a statement. “We ask for prayers for the wounded and urge the Indonesian authorities to investigate and arrest the terrorists responsible for this attack. Terrorism should not be allowed to exist in a country that upholds Pancasila.”
The nonprofit Christian persecution watchdog agency Open Doors issued a call to prayer Sunday morning.
“Some believers have been severely wounded, and all present have been traumatised,” an Open Doors coordinator in South East Asia said in a statement. “We ask the worldwide church to pray for their brothers and sisters in Makassar.”
The Southeast Asian country is home to the world’s largest Muslim population. Its Constitution is based on the doctrine of Pancasila — five principles upholding the nation’s belief in the one and only God and social justice, humanity, unity and democracy for all.
However, there are many extremist groups in Indonesia, including the Islamic Defenders Front and the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, who oppose Pancasila.
Indonesia is ranked No. 47 on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List of countries where Christians face the greatest levels of persecution.
Last November, suspected terrorists slit the throats of three Christians, beheaded another, attacked a Salvation Army post and burned Christians' homes on the island of Sulawesi, according to Reuters.
And that's number 47!
In 2018, at least 15 victims were killed and 57 others were injured in suicide bombings in the Surabaya area in East Java that targeted three churches — Immaculate Saint Mary Catholic Church, Indonesia Christian Church and Surabaya Central Pentecost Church. The government suspected that terrorists aligned with a local Islamic State affiliate were behind the attacks.
UPDATE: 29 Mar 2021
Indonesian police have identified the suspects in Sunday’s church suicide bombing as a recently married couple with suspected jihadist ties. Families have been involved in some major terrorist attacks in the region.
The explosion occurred outside a Roman Catholic church in the city of Makassar after two people entered the churchyard on a motorbike and were prevented from entering by security guards. The blast left 20 people injured and killed the attackers. It happened shortly after a Palm Sunday Mass service was held inside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral.
Police say the couple are believed to have had links to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian jihadist group linked to Islamic State. The group has been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region.
One of their highest-profile atrocities was a series of bombings in the city of Surabaya, the capital of Indonesia's East Java province. Three bombs targeted Catholic churches, while one was set off by accident at a perpetrator’s residence and another exploded when police stopped two members of the group for a check. Three families were behind the spree of violence and included their children – as young as seven – in the attacks, investigators reported.
Abducted Nigerian Christian girl Leah Sharibu gives birth to second baby in Boko Haram captivity
Leah Foundation urges Nigerian President Buhari to secure her release
By Emily Wood, Christian Post Reporter
Saturday, March 27, 2021
A photo of Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu's family is held in Nigeria in a September 2018 video. | YouTube/International Christian Concern
Leah Sharibu, who was among 100 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in 2018, gave birth to her second child in captivity, according to reports.
The report was initially circulated by the Washington, D.C.-based U.S.-Nigeria Law Group, which told The Christian Post on Saturday that a trusted source had confirmed that Sharibu gave birth to two children last year.
However, Emmanuel Ogebe, convener of the U.S.-Nigeria Law Group, said in a statement reported by the Daily Post on Tuesday that while the update about Sharibu came from a "usually knowledgeable source," they "have not corroborated this by multiple sources."
Enslaved for life
Sharibu was kidnapped on Feb. 19, 2018, by Boko Haram militants who raided the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College Dapchi, Yobe state. While 104 of the girls were released within a month, Sharibu is the only one of the Dapchi girls who has continued to be held against her will because she refused to renounce Jesus Christ and adhere to the militants' version of Islam. Boko Haram has pledged to enslave her for life.
According to a statement released by Sharibu's parents, Nathan and Rebecca, and signed by their spokesperson, Gloria Puldu, president of the Leah Foundation, the family feels abandoned by President Muhammadu Buhari, who many have accused of doing little to protect Christians from kidnappings by terrorist groups operating in Nigeria.
The statement, released to the Daily Post and other news outlets, reads in part: “Morning of March 23 was another very difficult day as we woke up to the very sad and heartbreaking rumors that Leah Sharibu, who is still in captivity for three years, has given birth to a second baby in captivity.
“It is a very big shame on General Buhari and his entire government. He has abandoned this young child in captivity. ..."
Executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians Dede Laugesen said the latest update about Sharibu, who's 17 years old, is both “sad and difficult.”
“If true, someone knows where Leah is and how she’s faring — she should be free! If untrue, it is devilish deceit,” Laugesen said in a statement shared with CP.
“Little information flows out of the terrorist dens of Sambisa Forest, long the domain of Boko Haram and their ISIS-affiliated splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa, who reportedly holds Leah captive," she added.
In February, American missionary Abu Zacharia traveled to Nigeria in an attempt to negotiate with Boko Haram for Sharibu’s release in exchange for himself, according to Nigerian Canadian News.
Ogebe referenced Zacharia's efforts in a statement shared by the Daily Post, noting that despite the offer, "there has been no tangible response from her captors."
“That notwithstanding, intelligence received on the status of Leah indicates that she has delivered a second child in captivity,” Ogebe added. “This means both children were born in 2020 as the terrorists announced her childbirth earlier in 2020. We are still investigating this."
Puldu added in the statement that the government's failure to rescue Sharibu from her captors is “shameful.”
“[The Nigerian president] has abandoned this young child in captivity. Leah Sharibu represents the face of women and girls in all forms of slavery and captivity in Nigeria,” Puldu said.
“That is why a #FreeNigerianSlaves campaign was started in the United States of America due to Sharibu’s plight, to advocate for the freedom of every Nigerian — especially women and girls in any form of slavery,” she continued. “We call on all well-meaning Nigerians not to remain silent but speak up against the injustice against our children.”
Puldu noted that Nigerians saw the United States government rescue one American citizen abducted in Niger because it “values the life of every of its citizen.”
“Yet Leah, a minor, has been abandoned and forgotten by her government. We know that the American government has recently offed to assist Nigeria in its fight against insecurity if the Nigerian government request for its assistance,” Puldu said. “Leah's parents are calling on General Buhari to please accept the American offer of assistance to secure the release of their daughter, especially if his current successful negotiators are not able to secure her release as they did with the recent school abductions.”
In January 2020 it was reported that Sharibu delivered a baby boy who is the son of a top Boko Haram commander. In response to the news of Sharibu’s first child, Puldu said at the time that the reports were "just a rumor as far as we are concerned."
“What we even desire is to see a proof of life so that we see Leah by ourselves. If they are able to have Leah safe, we will understand,” Puldu said.
“The most important thing is that we want her to be alive. And if she is alive, we will praise God for that. They should release her, despite whatever condition she is in. That is all; it doesn’t matter whether she is pregnant or with a baby," Puldu continued.
On International Women’s Day, Sharibu’s parents renewed pressure on Buhari to rescue Sharibu by releasing an open letter to the president who promised them their daughter would be released.
Sharibu’s parents noted the Nigerian government recently secured the safe return of nearly 300 abducted schoolgirls on March 2 and secured the release of other mass kidnappings but has failed to release their daughter after over three years of bondage.
Over 100 of the Chibok schoolgirls also remain missing after more than seven years.
Puldu and Rebecca Sharibu visited Washington, D.C., in June 2019 to urge then-President Donald Trump and Congress to help rescue Sharibu.
Shortly after meeting Sharibu, then-Vice President Mike Pence called Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to the White House to raise questions about the rise in terrorism and abductions, especially those involving Christians.
Osinbajo assured at the time that the Nigerian government was doing all it could to secure Sharibu’s release.
Due to widespread mass kidnappings, attending school is often dangerous for children in Nigeria. Due to the risks associated with going to school, around 10.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 do not attend school, according to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.
In northern Nigeria, where Sharibu’s kidnapping occurred, some 53% of children attend school.
Syria: Store owner kills 15-year-old employee
for showing up late to work
Published: April 01, 2021 16:07
Tawfiq Nasrallah, Senior News Editor, Gulf News
A Syrian store owner beat his 15-year-old employee to death for reporting late to work.
Dubai: A Syrian store owner in the northern governorate of Aleppo has beaten his 15-year-old employee to death for reporting late to work, the Syrian ministry of interior revealed.
In a statement on its official Facebook page, the Syrian ministry said that the boy had been transferred to the local hospital’s intensive care unit with intracranial hemorrhage and skull fractures, which the store owner claimed to had been caused by falling from a high area in the store.
According to the ministry’s statement, the store owner confessed to beating the juvenile with a hard plastic tube on his head several times because of constantly showing up late to work.
The statement said the perpetrator has been arrested and will be referred to the judiciary for further legal actions.
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