Islam - Current Day - Islamic Madness in Mozambique; Austria after Extremists; Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan

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ISIS fanatics ‘behead 50 men and boys on Mozambique football pitch

before chopping them up and kidnapping every woman’

Imogen Braddick, The Sun

10 Nov 2020, 9:55

ISIS-linked militants have beheaded more than 50 people and chopped up the bodies of the victims in a brutal attack in northern Mozambique, according to reports.

The militants turned a football pitch into an "execution ground" as they decapitated and chopped up the bodies of villagers in the Cabo Delgado province, state media reports.

The militants have killed more than 2,000 people in the province since 2017

Militants have been stepping up attacks across Africa in recent monthsCredit: AFP - Getty

Jihadis brutally attacked villages in the Cabo Delgado province

Scores of women and children were abducted in Nanjaba village, while more than 50 were killed in a gruesome attack on Muatide village, the BBC reports.

"They burned the houses then went after the population who had fled to the woods and started with their macabre actions," Bernardino Rafael, commander-general of Mozambique’s police said during a media briefing on Monday, according to Al Jazeera.

Villagers who tried to flee were reportedly taken to a nearby football pitch where they were beheaded and chopped to pieces in the atrocity which from lasted from Friday night to Sunday.

Jihadists have wreaked havoc in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province over the past three years, ravaging villages and towns as part of a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate.

TERROR IN THE WOODS

The militants have stepped up their offensive in recent months and violently seized swathes of territory, terrorising citizens in the process.

Counter-terrorism and organised crime expert David Otto told the Daily Star said: "State forces and suspected spies have been captured and beheaded by the jihadist group to send a warning message.

“Women have been the subject of targeted kidnapping. Sources say the jihadists keep the women as sex slaves."

He added: "The complex terrain of deep forest and easy access to the Indian ocean makes the province of Cabo Delgado and the district of Mocimboa da Praia perfect for any armed group to hide.

"They can launch hit and run ambush tactics, escape to the high-sea to neighbouring states and have an ideal logistics route for smuggling of illegal goods, arms and ammunition."

Last week, suspected militants beheaded at least 20 men and teenagers in a male initiation ceremony in the Muidumbe district.

The dismembered bodies of at least five adults and 15 boys were found.

"Police learnt of the massacre committed by the insurgents through reports of people who found corpses in the woods," an officer said.

"It was possible to count 20 bodies spread over an area of about 500 metres. These were young people who were at an initiation rite ceremony accompanied by their advisers."

In April, jihadists shot dead and beheaded more than 50 youths for allegedly refusing to join their ranks.

In March, they occupied the centre of Mocimboa da Praia and set fire to government buildings.

In another town they launched an attack on a police station and raised the ISIS flag.

Jihadis have carried out attacks in at least 13 countries in Africa

‘A strike against breeding ground for extremism’: Austrian police arrest 30 people with suspected links to Islamist groups

9 Nov, 2020 09:53 

FILE PHOTO: Austrian policemen stand near a mosque in Vienna on November 6, 2020.

© BMI / Austrian Interior Ministry / AFP

The Austrian authorities have conducted sweeping raids across the country against people with suspected ties to extremist groups. The operation took place a week after a deadly terrorist attack in Vienna.

As part of the action, dubbed Operation Ramses, police searched 60 apartments, houses, and businesses early on Monday morning. The raids were carried out in Vienna and the regions of Styria, Carinthia, and Lower Austria. 

The authorities have arrested 30 people with suspected links to the Islamist groups Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the prosecutor’s office in the city of Graz, more than 70 suspects are being investigated for possible ties to terrorist organizations.

“We have succeeded in striking against the breeding ground for extremism,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters after the raids.

Integration Minister Susanne Raab said the action against the Muslim Brotherhood was aimed at preventing “the spread of extremist ideas in Austria,” and showed that the country is “serious about the fight against radical, extremist ideologies.” 

The prosecutor’s office clarified that Monday’s raids had “no connection” with the terrorist attack in Vienna last week. On November 2, a gunman killed four people in the Austrian capital before being shot dead by police. The perpetrator was a 20-year-old man of Albanian origin and an Islamic State sympathizer who had previously been convicted for trying to join the militants in Syria.

Sixteen people were arrested in Austria immediately after the attack. Similar raids were carried out in neighboring Germany and Switzerland, where police detained several people with links to the perpetrator in the Vienna shooting.

Austria confirms reports that Vienna shooter hosted ‘Islamist summit’

with extremists from Germany and Switzerland in July

9 Nov, 2020 13:24

A woman places flowers at the site of a terrorist attack in Vienna, Austria, November 5, 2020.

© Reuters / Leonhard Foeger

The Austrian Interior Ministry has confirmed earlier reports that the gunman behind the deadly Vienna attack met with a group of fellow jihadists from Germany and Switzerland in the country’s capital several months ago.

“A meeting took place in Vienna among the people … from Germany and Switzerland, but there were also people present at the meeting with the later assailant who were arrested in the context of the investigation,” Interior Ministry’s Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf said at a news conference.

Austrian media reported earlier that more than a dozen of “young jihadists” from Austria, Germany and Switzerland gathered for what was described as “a three-country Islamist summit” in Vienna in mid-July. The meeting was said to have been organized by Kujtim Fejzullai, a 20-year-old Austrian native of Albanian origin who killed four people and wounded 23 more in the country’s capital on November 2.

Fejzullai, an Islamic State sympathizer, was shot dead by police during the attack. Last year, he was sentenced to 22 months in prison for trying to join the militants in Syria but was released on parole shortly afterward.

According to the Kronen Zeitung newspaper, some of the Islamists were staying in Fejzullai’s apartment during their trip to Vienna, and they all were under constant surveillance by Austrian police. Shortly after the meeting, Fejzullai went to Slovakia in an attempt to buy bullets for his AK-47 assault rifle.

German and Swiss police conducted raids and arrested several people with ties to Fejzullai after the attack in Vienna. Swiss media reported that two men, aged 18 and 24, who were arrested in the country last week had travelled to Vienna between July 16 and July 20 to meet Fejzullai at an undisclosed location.

Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer admitted that officials had made “intolerable mistakes” and failed to act on the tip from their Slovak colleagues about the “suspects from Austria” trying to buy ammunition in the country. “Something obviously went wrong in communication,” he said last week. An investigation was launched into how the main Austrian anti-terrorism agency handled the information on Fejzullai.

Afghan security forces kill Al-Qaeda leader &

accuse Taliban of having ‘protected’ him

10 Nov, 2020 14:02

FILE PHOTO: Security forces in Kabul, Afghanistan on November 2, 2020. © Wakil Kohsar / AFP

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) says it has killed an Al-Qaeda chief responsible for the group in the South Asian region, claiming the Taliban had harbored him, despite its promises to cut ties with Al-Qaeda.

Mohammed Haneef, nicknamed ‘Abdullah’, was killed in a raid in the western Farah Province, the Afghan officials said. Haneef was described as a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS), and a former aide and deputy to Asim Umar, the head of AQIS, who was killed in Afghanistan last year.

According to the NDS, Haneef was initially a Taliban member but had joined Al-Qaeda this year and was training Taliban militants to make bombs and place them on vehicles. Hannef was given “safe haven and protection” by the Taliban, the NDS said.

A spokesperson for the Taliban told Reuters that the group was investigating the allegations.

The Taliban had pledged to cut ties with Al-Qaeda as part of a peace deal with the US signed in February. However, a UN extremist watchdog warned in October that Al-Qaeda operatives were still “heavily embedded” with the Taliban and were doing “a good deal” of training and fighting together.

Last week, the Afghan military reported that several Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in Taliban-controlled areas. Afghan Army Chief of Staff General Yasin Zia said that “the Taliban still have close coordination and conduct operations with other terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda.”

Islam - Current Day - Vienna Terrorism; Terrorist Fooled System; Mali Terrorist Attack Thwarted by French Mirage Jets

Vienna shooter’s motives were Islamist

 November 3, 2020

After a terrorist shooting armed police officers patrol on a street at the scene in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP/Ronald Zak)

 

Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.

By Associated Press

Austria’s top security official said that four people have died — including one assailant — and fifteen people were wounded in a shooting in the heart of Vienna late Monday.

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told reporters Tuesday that two men and a woman have died from their injuries. A suspected attacker, who was carrying an assault rifle and a fake suicide vest, was also shot and killed by police.

Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.

“We experienced an attack last night by at least one Islamist terrorist,” Nehammer told reporters. He declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

Authorities were still trying to determine whether further attackers may be on the run, he said. People in Vienna have been urged to stay at home if possible Tuesday.

Among the fifteen people injured in the attack was a police officer, said Nehammer.

The shooting began shortly after 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Monday near Vienna’s main synagogue as many people were enjoying a last night of open restaurants and bars before the start of a coronavirus lockdown.

“We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said.

The attack drew swift condemnation and assurances of support from leaders around Europe, including from French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country also experienced three Islamist attacks in recent weeks.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday night as he prepared for his final rally ahead of Election Day: “Our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe.”

 

“These evil attacks against innocent people must stop,” Trump added. “The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists.”

Austria’s military has provided soldiers to guard key sites in Vienna, freeing up police to continue the investigation. Germany and Hungary have offered to send tactical police units to support their Austrian colleagues.

Authorities say members of the public have uploaded 20,000 videos of the attack to police.

Vienna attack investigation: Terrorist likely acted alone

after he ‘tricked’ Austria’s deradicalization program

3 Nov, 2020 19:02

FILE PHOTO. ©  Reuters / Leonhard Foeger

The man behind Monday’s terrorist attack in the Austrian capital had secured an early release from jail by “tricking” a deradicalization program, Austria’s interior minister has said, adding that he most likely acted alone.

The Islamist radical, who killed four people in a shooting attack on Monday, would still be serving his sentence in prison, had he not deceived the deradicalization program overseen by the Austrian Justice Ministry, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer revealed during a press conference. 

Nehammer said the fact that such a radicalized person was granted an early release means the Austrian justice system needs “re-evaluation and optimization.”

Earlier, the Austrian authorities confirmed that the attacker identified as Kujtim Fejzulai was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 after he swore allegiance to Islamic State and made an attempt to join terrorists in Syria.

Yet, he was set free in December 2019, some eight months after the sentencing, since he was no longer considered a threat. He was then assigned a probation officer and was sent into the care of the Derad association – an NGO tasked with deradicalizing convicted criminals on behalf of the Austrian government. 

Fejzulai then made “particular efforts” to create an image of a “well-integrated” man during his meetings with the officer and the Derad specialists. According to some local media reports, he met with Derad representatives just days ago and explicitly condemned the recent terrorist attacks in France.

In fact, however, the 20-year-old sought to “deliberately destroy the system,” Nehammer admitted. 

The attacker killed four people and injured 23 during a rampage in Vienna’s Old Town on Monday evening. The assailant himself was also gunned down by police. Ten people, who suffered injuries in the incident, have since been released from hospitals, Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig confirmed. Another 13 people remain in hospitals, he said, adding that three of them are in “critical” condition.

Nehammer, meanwhile, said that the perpetrator most likely acted alone and had no accomplices, explaining that analyses of a half of all video materials submitted by the attack witnesses revealed no signs of any other attackers. The minister said that as many as 20,000 videos have been sent to police since the attack, adding that it was too early to draw any final conclusions.

Austria’s police also raided 18 apartments and detained 14 people in the wake of the attack, the minister said. Earlier, the Austrian media reported about a “known Islamist” being detained in a large-scale police operation, involving heavily armed units, in the city of Linz. His connection to the terrorist attack in Vienna remains unclear, though. 

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French airstrikes kill over 50 Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Mali

3 Nov, 2020 16:19

A French soldier stands guards in front of an NH90 Caiman military helicopter during Operation Barkhane

in Ndaki, Mali, July 29, 2019. © Reuters / Benoit Tessier

More than 50 jihadists have been killed in airstrikes carried out by French forces in Mali, Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Tuesday, calling the deaths a significant blow to Al-Qaeda in the region.

The airstrikes were carried out on Friday in central Mali near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, Parly said after meeting members of Mali’s transitional government in Bamako.

“I would like to reveal an operation of great importance which was carried out on October 30 in Mali by the Barkhane force, which was able to neutralize more than 50 jihadists,” Parly said on Mali state television. The minister was referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane.

Around 30 motorcycles were destroyed, the French minister said. The operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large” motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area, he added.

When the jihadists tried to escape, two Mirage jets were sent in, along with a drone to launch missiles on the insurgents, according to Parly.

Four terrorists have also been captured, military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry told reporters, adding that explosives and a suicide vest were found. The group had been “about to attack [an army] position in the region,” he said.

Another operation targeting Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was also underway, with a total of 3,000 soldiers involved, Barbry added.

France has more than 5,000 troops in Mali and neighboring countries in West Africa’s Sahel region to fight the jihadists since it first intervened in 2013. The United Nations has deployed around 13,000 troops in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission.

Islam - Current Day - Beheading Threat by 11 y/o; Muslim Apartheid; Remembrance Day Attack; Austria Crackdown; Pakistani Bounty on Christian

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11yo Muslim student threatened to behead teacher at Berlin

primary school, teacher says

11 Nov, 2020 17:54

FILE PHOTO © Getty Images / Maja Hitij

The head teacher of a primary school in Spandau, Berlin has told German media that an 11-year-old Muslim pupil threatened to behead his teacher after defending the murder of Samuel Paty in France.

Karina Jehniche, the head of the school, told Der Tagesspiegel that fellow students were stunned when they heard the pupil tell his teacher “I’ll do the same with you as the boy did with the teacher in Paris.” 

The pupil was also allegedly involved in an earlier shocking incident during a minute’s silence in memory of Paty. The 11-year-old reportedly told a fellow student that it was “OK” to kill someone “who had insulted the prophet.”

An imam who was present reportedly immediately spoke to the child, and the school sent him home after a conversation with his parents.

The news comes a week after officials in France said that children as young as eight were under investigation for defending Paty’s murder at memorial services. Across France, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, 66 inquiries were opened into alleged support of terrorism following the teacher’s murder.  

French teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by a Chechen Islamist extremist in a suburb north of Paris on October 16, after he had shown cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed during a lesson about free speech. The perpetrator was shot and killed by police shortly afterwards. 

Paty’s death sparked a major clampdown by the French government on Islamist extremism, and President Emmanuel Macron came out in defense of the publication of the Mohammed cartoons. 

Several Muslim countries, particularly Turkey, have been critical of France and other European nations for refusing to denounce the cartoons, which they believe are blasphemous. 

France, for all its struggles to reach liberté, égalité, fraternité, does not want to regress to the dark ages by a religion that is stuck in the 1st Millenium. Beheading does not belong in a civilized society.

Berlin should send this boy and his parents back to whatever God-forsaken country they came from. There should be no place in Europe for such attitudes.

Muslims shouldn’t marry non-Muslims & can only do so after seeking official permission, rules Russian Islamic body

11 Nov, 2020 13:55

© Sputnik / Alexey Maishev

Russian Muslims are prohibited from interfaith marriage, unless given permission by the local mufti. This follows a ruling by the Council of Ulema, which concluded that marriages with Jews and Christians are inadmissible.

The Council of Ulema is a group of clerics and scholars, part of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia.

Although passed in November 2019, the council's theological decision was only published online this week. The conclusion states that marriages with “representatives of the people of the book [Jews and Christians]” are only possible with agreement from the local mufti.

According to the published document, the council believes that “interfaith marriages are characterized by the emergence of a number of problems,” including difficulties with raising children in the spirit of the Islamic faith, and the likelihood that the marriage will lead to the child not becoming a Muslim.

May be OK for  Muslim men, but not for women

Following the decision, believers willing to marry from outside the faith can receive permission, but only under certain conditions. In particular, the body decided that non-Muslim women willing to “follow the precepts of the Holy Quran” can wed a Muslim man. However, it is unacceptable for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man, regardless of his views and beliefs.

On Wednesday, Salah Haji Mezhiev, the mufti of the majority-Muslim Chechen Republic, noted that the prohibition is not controversial, and is something “everyone knows” is forbidden.

Despite the Council’s theological conclusion, in practice, marriages between Russian Muslims and Christians are likely to continue. According to Roman Silantyev, an Islamic expert, there are four schools of law in Sunni Islam, and just three of them prohibit interfaith marriage. The one which doesn't have this rule, Hanafi, is the most popular in Russia.

“It turns out that the theological conclusion of the Spiritual Administration of Russia contradicts the school to which almost all their believers belong,” Silantyev said. “The late Valiulla Yakupov [deputy mufti of Tatarstan], he had a Christian wife, and a number of Muslim leaders have wives who have not changed their religion.”

Islam is the second biggest religion in Russia, behind Orthodox Christianity.

Several injuries following attack at non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

during Remembrance Day ceremony

11 Nov, 2020 11:30 

© AFP

Several people were injured in a suspected grenade attack during a Remembrance Day ceremony held at a non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning.

Representatives from several countries were at the cemetery when the attack took place. An unnamed Greek official told Reuters that four people had been injured. However, the Mecca governorate authorities said just two people – a Greek consulate employee and a Saudi security guard – were harmed in the incident.

“The embassies that were involved in the commemoration ceremony condemn this cowardly attack, which is completely unjustified,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. They called on the Saudi authorities to “shed as much light as they can on this attack, and to identify and hunt down the perpetrators.”

French Senator Damien Regnard tweeted a message of support for those injured in the blast. “All my support to our compatriots in Saudi Arabia and in Jeddah,” he wrote. 

The consulate reportedly cautioned French nationals living in Saudi Arabia to exercise “maximum vigilance” in the aftermath of the attack. “In particular, exercise discretion, and stay away from all gatherings and be cautious when moving around,” the statement, issued to French residents in Jeddah, reads as cited by the media.

The attack comes just 12 days after a knife attack at the French consulate in Jeddah, on the same day three people were killed in an Islamist terrorist attack in Nice. The French embassy in the UAE and consulate in Dubai issued a joint statement after the attack advising French residents to maintain vigilance. 

France has faced escalating tensions with the Muslim world in recent weeks. In mid-October, a school teacher was beheaded near Paris after he showed cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to his students. President Macron endorsed the caricatures and proclaimed a crackdown on “radical Islam.” This stance caused uproar in Muslim countries.

Austria’s Leader Seeks Crackdown on Islamist Terrorism After Attack

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced a set of legislative proposals that would make it easier to keep terrorists behind bars, close mosques and clamp down on funding for terrorists.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria during a news conference this week in Paris.

Credit...Pool photo by Michel Euler

By Melissa Eddy, NYT

Nov. 11, 2020, 5:42 p.m. ET

BERLIN — Austria would allow courts to extend the sentences of convicted terrorists and it would establish a new criminal offense for people who “create the breeding ground” for terrorism, as part of a package of legislative proposals announced a week after an Islamic State sympathizer killed four people in Vienna.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced the tough new proposals on Wednesday after meeting with his cabinet in the Austrian capital, Vienna, a day after he held talks with President Emmanuel Macron of France and other European Union leaders to coordinate efforts across the bloc to crack down on Islamist terrorism.

“We will do everything to protect the population,” Mr. Kurz said. The legislative package will be put before Parliament for approval before the end of the year.

France and Austria have both been attacked recently: Last week in Vienna, a 20-year-old previously sentenced to prison for trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State fatally shot four people. In France last month, a Tunisian man fatally stabbed three people in Nice, and an 18-year-old Chechen refugee beheaded a teacher in the Paris suburbs.

Unlike Mr. Macron, whose government launched a broad crackdown in response to the attacks, leading to widespread hostility against France in the Muslim world, Mr. Kurz, a conservative, had initially responded with conciliatory words that sought to defuse tensions. He stressed that “extremists and terrorists” — not “all those belonging to a religion” — should be the target of Austrians’ anger.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Kurz insisted that it was not enough to mourn the two men and two women who were killed in the heart of Vienna’s old city on Nov. 2 and help the 22 others who were injured. He said the authorities needed wider-reaching abilities to prevent terrorists from carrying out attacks and root out those who support them.

Among his proposals: Allowing courts to continue imprisoning people who have completed sentences for belonging to a terrorist organization, if judges determine those people are still radical and could pose a threat. Those released from prison would continue to be monitored electronically.

“Especially those who have already served a prison sentence can pose a massive threat to our security, as was dramatically demonstrated by the attack last week,” Mr. Kurz said, referring to the young man who had been released early from prison after completing a “de-radicalization” program, but went on to plan and carry out the attack in Vienna.

“This is a major intervention, but in my view a necessary step to minimize the threat risk,” Mr. Kurz said.

Additionally, any dual nationals found guilty of supporting terrorism will have their Austrian citizenship revoked. The Vienna attacker was a citizen of both Austria and North Macedonia.

While the law is aimed at stopping Islamist terrorists, it would also apply to other extremists, including neo-Nazis, said Werner Kogler, the vice chancellor and a member of the Greens party.

Austria would also create a new criminal offense that would allow the authorities to move against individuals who are not active members of a terrorist organization, but who “create the breeding ground for them,” the chancellor said.

The measure would make it easier for the authorities to close places of worship and introduce a register allowing them to track imams preaching hate or extremism.

Other measures include tightening existing laws on symbols and associations to include those linked to terrorist groups, and allowing the authorities to halt the financial flow to terrorist groups.

I really like Kurz. He may be the best leader in Europe right now.

Susanne Raab, Austria’s minister for culture, said the measures were aimed at those who are opposed to “our values” and want “to divide our society,” not at Islam as a religion or the many Muslims who practice it peacefully.

“This clear separation between extremist Islamism and the religion is very important,” she said.

Radical Islamist Political Party Puts $62k Bounty on Pakistani Christian

John Paluska | ChristianHeadlines.com 

Contributor | Tuesday, November 10, 2020

 

Faraz Pervaiz, a Christian activist in Pakistan, fled the country after defamatory photos, caricatures and statements of and by him and his father went viral on social media in 2014.

According to The Christian Post, Muslim extremists began to target Pervaiz after he spoke out about Christians’ homes being pillaged and robbed.

International Christian Concern reports that before fleeing the country, Pervaiz challenged the politics and theology of Islam by leading protests.

Because of his activism, in 2015, the Tahreek-e-Labbaik political party placed a $62,000 bounty on Prevaiz’s head. The bounty would be increased to $124,000 the next year.

Radical Muslims also made a video calling on every family in Pakistan to find and kill Pervaiz. Part of the campaign that threatened his life included a video doxing his location. It was for this reason he had to flee to Thailand with his family.

Now, posters offering a $62,800 reward and asserting that Pervaiz will be beheaded if he is found, have been distributed around Karachi, Pakistan, UCA News reports.

According to The Christian Post, this has led to Pervaiz being attacked. The activist reports being attacked by four Muslims at a grocery store.

The Pakistani government has also sided against Pervaiz. In 2017, the government filed a blasphemy case against him.

According to Pervaiz, this was the first time the government had officially filed a blasphemy case against a citizen of Pakistan, despite the country being known for having the most blasphemy lockups of any country in the world.

"I am in a situation where we are helpless here,” Pervaiz explained in a phone interview with The Christian Post. “Actually, it’s not the fault of UNHCR. This is the fault of my people, my Christian community. They are not taking any serious measures for our safety,” he said.

According to persecution watchdog Open Doors USA, Pakistan is the fifth-worst country for Christian persecution.

Islam - Current Day - Islam Attacks Austria; Madness in Egypt; Kabul U Slaughter; Macron Steps Up Battle With Islam; Bangladesh, Pakistani Madness

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Austria’s Kurz vows to fight ‘political Islam’ after Turkish teens

rampage through Vienna church

31 Oct 2020 07:45

FILE PHOTO: The Votivkirche church, in Vienna, Austria, October 6, 2020. ©  REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said that his government will not tolerate religious extremism after dozens of Turkish youths reportedly stormed through a church in Vienna.

Between 30 and 50 Turkish teenagers are said to have rampaged through the Catholic Church of St. Anton von Padua in Vienna-Favoriten. According to local media reports, the youths shouted “Allahu akbar” as they kicked benches and the church’s confessional. The youths scattered after the pastor called the police. 

Writing on Twitter about the rowdy flash mob, the Austrian chancellor said that all Christians in the country must be able to “exercise their faith freely and safely. We will resolutely continue the fight against political Islam and will not show any false tolerance here."

No one was injured during the incident and police are currently reviewing surveillance footage. The youths reportedly met earlier in the day at a square, where they shouted “Islamic slogans” and set off firecrackers.

According to Austrian media, law enforcement initially labeled the unsettling disturbance as a “youth prank,” but the case was later referred to the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and dozens of police officers were dispatched to the area as a safety precaution. 

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer vowed to protect Austria’s Christian community “with all our resources” and said that security was being bolstered following a string of violence and attempted attacks in France that have been linked to Islamic extremists. 

An attack on Thursday at a church in Nice, France left three people dead. The suspect, a Tunisian migrant who had recently arrived in the country, was accused by French officials of being an “Islamo-fascist,” although his family in Tunisia denies that he holds radical religious beliefs. 

France launched a crackdown on extremism following the murder of a schoolteacher, Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by a Chechen refugee after showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed during a lesson on freedom of speech. 

Madness and a complete lack of self-control is not confined to the Indian Sub-Continent

Egyptian man kills wife and two kids to avenge his spouse’s earlier murder of a neighbouring girl

Published:  October 31, 2020 16:54

Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent, Gulf News

Cairo: An Egyptian man has killed his wife and two children allegedly to avenge the spouse’s earlier murder of a neighbouring girl.

Police in Upper Egypt’s province of Sohag found the bodies of the wife and her two children, aged 14 and eight, inside their house allegedly after the man had killed them and fled.

A body of a five-year –old girl, purportedly killed earlier by the woman due to a financial dispute with her mother, was found inside the house drainage well.

After his arrest, the suspect told investigators that he had made up his mind to kill his 40-year-old wife because of her killing of the neighbouring girl, who was a child of a close friend of his, Al Watan newspaper reported.

“I feel remorse for killing my two children, but they made me lose my temper when they attempted to stop me from killing their mother. I killed them while I was in the grip of anger,” he added, according to the paper.

'The grip of anger', rage, demonic possession, utter insanity!

In recent years, Egyptian media has reported a rise in family killings in the country.

In July, a farm worker in southern Egypt admitted to having killed his mother, wife and three daughters, to marry another woman.

Earlier this year, a psychologically ill woman fatally threw her two children from the four-floor balcony of her house north of Cairo before she leaped after them. The 33-year-old mother died later of injuries at a local hospital.

It was probably TV and movies that convinced me from childhood that life is very cheap in North Africa - from Egypt to Morroco. Nothing I have seen as an adult has changed that perception.

Kabul University attack: Islamic State claims responsibility

after 22 people killed in Afghanistan

2 Nov, 2020 19:18

Afghan security forces stand guard during an attack near the University of Kabul, Afghanistan

November 2, 2020. © REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for an attack on Kabul University on Monday in which at least 22 people died, including students, after gunmen stormed the campus.

The group’s Amaq News Agency sent out a message claiming Islamic State had carried out the attack and had targeted judges, investigators, and security teams working for the government. It claimed 80 people had been killed in the incident.

The official number of those killed stands at 22, however, with more than 20 other people wounded.

Shots were first heard at around 11.30am local time, before an hours-long battle between the attackers and Afghan security forces. The three perpetrators were killed, according to the country’s interior ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian, who described the assault on the university as a “savage terrorist attack.”

President Ashraf Ghani branded the violence an attack on “the honor, advancement, and bright future of Afghanistan,” and the Afghan government has declared Tuesday a national day of mourning.

Local media reports said there had been an explosion and gunfire at a book fair at the university, which had been attended by Afghan and Iranian officials, including the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan. Footage showed students being evacuated from the campus, and people could be seen running, to the backdrop of loud bangs.

One student, Fathullah Moradi, who escaped through the university’s gates, told Reuters: “They were shooting at every student they saw.” 

Islamic State also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at a Kabul education center just over a week ago that killed 24 people. 

Bloodshed has continued in the country, despite recent peace talks between the Taliban and the government, with the UN envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, warning of “near-record violence.”

On Monday, in a separate incident, a vehicle struck a roadside mine in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, killing at least seven people.

France sparks outrage in Turkey with plans to outlaw

‘Grey Wolves’ nationalist group

2 Nov, 2020 17:37

File photo © REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan

Turkish members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have condemned the French government’s decision to ban a pan-Turkish nationalist group known as the ‘Grey Wolves.’

On Monday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced during a National Assembly meeting about the country’s fight against Islamist militants that the cabinet will consider banning the Turkish right-wing group, when it meets on Wednesday.

Huseyin Sozlu, a member of the MHP, posted on Twitter to strongly condemn the proposed ban, by sharing a photo of the French government “embracing the PKK terrorists in the Elysee Palace,” arguing that the apparent hypocrisy exposed “Europe’s ambivalent attitude."

Sozlu was joined in his criticism by Turkish nationalist Adem Taskaya, who posted that, in response to the ban, soon France’s “government will fall,” urging President Emmanuel Macron to take “precautions with his mind.”

The ‘Grey Wolves,’ established by the Nationalist Movement Party’s founder Alparslan Turkes in the 1960s, has been involved in “particularly aggressive” incidents in France in recent weeks, according to Darmanin.

Last weekend, French media reported that the group’s name and pro-Turkish slogans had been inscribed on an Armenian memorial near Lyon.

Wikipedia - The Grey Wolves (Turkish: Bozkurtlar), officially known as Idealist Hearths, is a Turkish far-right organization and movement affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Commonly described as ultranationalist , Islamist and neo-fascist, it is a youth organization that has been described as MHP's paramilitary or militant wing. Its members deny its political nature and claim it to be a cultural and education foundation, as per its full official name: Ülkü Ocakları Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı (Idealist Clubs Educational and Cultural Foundation).

The organization has long been a prominent suspect in investigations into the Turkish "deep state", and is suspected of having had close dealings in the past with the Counter-Guerrilla, the Turkish branch of the NATO Operation Gladio, as well as the Turkish mafia.

Tensions have been growing between France and Turkey since Macron pledged a crackdown on radical Islam following the murder of a French teacher by a Chechen Islamist on October 16. Macron also defended the publication of cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed as freedom of expression, drawing harsh rebukes from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The French government has since increased its efforts to tackle militants and extremists in the past month, including banning a group named after Sheikh Yassin, co-founder of the Hamas movement.

50,000-strong 'anti-Macron' rally in Bangladesh marches towards French embassy, Macron effigy burned

2 Nov, 2020 15:30

© REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

More than 50,000 people have taken to the streets in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, to protest against French President Emmanuel Macron's defense of the right to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Police warned that crowds were heading for the French Embassy, where security had been heightened.

Organizers of Bangladesh's largest anti-France rally disagreed with the police estimate of a 50,000-strong crowd, claiming twice as many had assembled.

Protesters marched for two kilometers, starting at the country's national Mosque in the center of Dhaka, and chanting: "We are not afraid of bullets or bombs!" and "Macron, you are in danger!" 

Some participants burned an effigy of Macron, while others carried caricatures of the leader and a fake coffin for him.

This latest protest comes after the French president sparked backlash in a number of Muslim countries when he defended the right to freedom of speech by allowing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, following the killing of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty.

The teacher had shown his students the caricatures in a lesson about freedom of speech and was beheaded by an Islamist Chechen on the outskirts of Paris last month.

Macron vowed a clampdown on Islamist extremism in the country and once-again defended values of freedom of speech after a terrorist attack in Nice, in which three people died, two of whom were decapitated.

Tensions were already escalating when satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo republished cartoons of the prophet (seen as blasphemous in Islam) in August, to coincide with the trial of the gunmen who had attacked its office in 2015 and shot dead 12 members of staff.

Monday's protest in Bangladesh is the country's most recent gathering in which demonstrators have tried to "lay siege" to the French embassy, following another in Dhaka involving around 40,000 people last week.

The latest protest in the capital was organized by Hefazat-i-Islam, a Muslim political group; many in the crowd had come from outside Dhaka to vent their anger at Macron, but did so peacefully, according to reports.

Pictures showed a barbed-wire barricade erected by Bangladeshi police to prevent protesters entering Dhaka's embassy district.

Deputy chief of Hefazat-i-Islam, Junaid Babunagaori, urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to condemn Macron, and told protesters: "I call on traders to throw away French products. I ask the UN to take stern action against France."

On Monday Indonesia also witnessed protests, with around 2,000 people marching to the French embassy in the capital, Jakarta, while chanting, "God is Great!" and "Boycott French products!" 

Boycotts on French products, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been brought into effect in a number of Muslim countries, while leaders in other nations, including Pakistan, Morocco, Iran, and Egypt have also slammed Macron.

‘This is our Europe’: Macron voices ‘shock & grief’ over Vienna terror attack,

warns ‘enemies’ will be dealt with

2 Nov, 2020 23:28 

French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that Europe will not give into terror following a deadly attack in Austria’s capital, voicing support for a “friendly country” while threatening retaliation for their shared “enemies.”

“We French share the shock and grief of the Austrian people struck this evening by an attack in the heart of their capital, Vienna. After France, a friendly country is attacked,” Macron said in a pair of tweets on Monday evening – one in French, the other in German.

This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they are dealing with.

We will not give up anything.

The comment came amid running gun battles between armed assailants and police in downtown Vienna on Monday night, following an incident near the city’s largest synagogue deemed a terrorist attack by the Austrian Interior Minister. While the attackers’ motives remain unclear, police have confirmed that “several suspects armed with rifles” have fired their weapons in six different locations, killing at least one bystander and injuring several others. One of the gunmen was also shot and killed by officers, police said.

The President of the European Commission, Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, joined Macron in condemning the “brutal” attack, saying “Europe stands by Austria’s side in full solidarity,” while the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs Josep Fontelles dubbed the shootings “cowardly [acts] of violence and hate.”

France has seen a number of shocking terrorist attacks in recent weeks, including a stabbing spree at a Catholic basilica in Nice last Thursday, as well as the gruesome beheading of a school teacher in a suburb of Paris in October. Both have since been labeled “Islamist terrorist attacks” by French authorities, who have responded to the violence with ramped up security around schools and houses of worship nationwide, including the deployment of thousands of soldiers to French streets.

There seems to be an assumption here that the terrorists were Muslim extremists. It's possible they were far-right extremists, but that seems unlikely considering the randomness of the targets. That is more like Islamic terrorists.

Pakistani girls’ school stages mock BEHEADING as cleric vows vengeance on France for ‘insulting the Prophet’ (VIDEO)

2 Nov, 2020 21:40

© Facebook / Jamia Syeda Hafsa

A girls’ religious school in Islamabad staged a mock beheading in front of its young students as a cleric preached that Muslims would exact vengeance on France – and on the West in general – for “insulting” Prophet Mohammed.

A woman in full face veil uses a scimitar to behead an effigy in front of hundreds of assembled students, many holding signs sporting protest slogans, in video posted to the official Facebook account of Jamia Syeda Hafsa, a Pakistani girls’ seminary, last week.

The disturbing scene and excerpts of a fiery sermon that accompanied it have since been picked up by Muslim-skeptical English language outlets, at least one of which claimed the effigy is of French President Emmanuel Macron, though there is no evidence in the video that this is the case. Macron has come under fire from Muslims around the world for his government’s recent efforts to crack down on Islamic extremism following the beheading of history teacher Samuel Paty last month by a Chechen Muslim immigrant.

Video of the beheading is set to a song that lyrically vows to “grind into dust” those who draw the Prophet Mohammed and declares beheading to be the only fitting punishment for insulting him. The grisly pageant was accompanied by a sermon in which the female cleric vowed vengeance on the enemies of Islam, especially France.

“So far only one of your brethren has gone to hell,” the cleric declared, adding that “we will never stop until we exact vengeance for your insult” – presumably the obscene cartoon drawing of the Prophet that Paty reportedly showed his class as part of a lesson on free speech.

“You started this, but we will finish it,” she continued, asking if it was “possible” for France to “insult our prophet and retain the glory of Paris.”

Nor did she spare France’s allies, vowing a larger revenge in what seemed to be retaliation for the ongoing ‘war on terror’ that has left Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan in ruins. “Along with France, all enemies of Muslims will need to understand the flames you spread to us in the East will now reach you in the West,” the cleric said.

“If you let us be in peace you’ll be able to live in peace. Your peace is tied to ours,” she proclaimed.

While the effigy beheaded in Islamabad may not have been Macron, the French president has been enthusiastically “mutilated” in effigy elsewhere. A massive protest outside the French embassy in Dhaka included an effigy-burning, and a small group of Muslims burned photographs of the leader outside the French embassy in Moscow on Friday.

Macron’s crackdown on radical Islam has polarized Muslims and non-Muslims alike, with some feeling it’s too little, too late and others seeing it as an-all-out war on Muslims. The president acknowledged that caricatures of Mohammed like the one published by satirical outlet Charlie Hebdo in 2015 might be “shocking” but has vowed to protect freedom of speech in France – at least when it comes to displaying politically incorrect cartoons.

Despite its inflammatory content, the video apparently did not violate Facebook’s policy on inciting violence, even though it included a direct call for Muslims to “spill their blood” defending the honor of the Prophet.

They just can't seem to understand that non-Muslims have no regard for 'the honor of the prophet'. If I dare write what most people actually think of the prophet, it would possibly cost me my life.

For several years now I have been warning that Europe will end up in an outright war on Islam if it wants to retain any of its historical character. These are just the first shots fired in the first battle. It will get very ugly before it gets better.

Islam - Current Day - Iranians on Trial in Belgium; Aussie Spl Forces War Crimes; Madness in Arabia; Brutal Murder of 4 Christians

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Four Iranians on trial in Belgium over suspected

France bomb plot in European first

27 Nov, 2020 09:29

Police officers are seen before a trial of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, at the court building in Antwerp, Belgium, November 27, 2020. © Reuters / Johanna Geron

An Iranian diplomat and three of his compatriots go on trial in Belgium on Friday after being accused of plotting to bomb an opposition rally outside Paris in 2018, in the first such proceedings in Europe.

The diplomat, Assadolah Assadi, who was formerly based in Vienna, and the three others have been charged by prosecutors in Belgium with planning an attack on a meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The exiled opposition group is headquartered in the French capital.

The trial is scheduled to be held on Friday and then Thursday next week, and if convicted, Assadi, 48, faces life in prison. The diplomat, who has not commented on the charges, was arrested while on holiday in July 2018 in Germany, where he had no immunity from prosecution and was handed over to Belgium.

This is the first time an Iranian official has been put on trial in an EU member state for terrorism.

Two of his suspected accomplices, a couple living in Belgium, had also been arrested Belgium, with police saying they had half a kilo of the explosive TATP and a detonator.

Another alleged accomplice, Mehrdad Arefani, 57, is an Iranian poet who had lived in Belgium for several years. He was arrested in France in 2018.

Belgian authorities said in June 2018 that they had thwarted an attempt to "smuggle explosives" to France to attack the meeting, and later that year, French officials accused Tehran's intelligence service of being behind the operation. Jaak Raes, head of Belgium's state security service (VSSE), said in a letter to the prosecutor in February this year that "the attack plan was conceived in the name of Iran and under its leadership."

France also accused Iran's intelligence ministry of planning the plot and reportedly expelled an Iranian diplomat in retaliation in October 2018.

The assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and officials were frozen in the European Union.

The Islamic Republic has denied the allegations, saying that the "plot" was a stunt by the NCRI, which is labeled a terrorist group in Iran.

13 Australian soldiers receive discharge notices after probe finds

evidence of war crimes in Afghanistan

27 Nov, 2020 07:40

FILE PHOTO: Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan. October 2009.

© AFP / Australian Department of Defence

The Australian Army said 13 servicemen are facing dismissal and could be referred to the special prosecutor's office set up to study allegations in a report about commandos executing prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan.

"At this time, 13 individuals have been issued administrative action notices in relation to the Afghanistan inquiry," Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr announced. He explained that the servicemen in question have at least two weeks to respond to the notice, which includes a proposal to sack them.

Burr said the army would then study the written responses from the servicemen and consider "individual circumstance" on a case-by-case basis. He added that the soldiers could be later referred to the office of the special prosecutor, which was created to examine the possible prosecution of troops over their conduct in Afghanistan.

NINE Aussie soldiers take their own lives as a war crimes scandal morphs into shambles, with top brass shielded & squaddies blamed

The army did not disclose the names of the soldiers. According to Australian media, the servicemen are from the 2nd Squadron of the Special Air Service Regiment, which was disbanded shortly after the redacted version of the report on Afghanistan was published this month, and the unit's 3rd Squadron.

An official four-year investigation found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 prisoners and civilians during their service in Afghanistan. The shocking details prompted the Australian government and the army to apologize to Kabul and the people of Afghanistan.  

In 2001, Australian troops joined the US-led NATO force to fight Al-Qaeda and the Taliban militants in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Saudi Arabia: Man arrested for shooting four members of his family

..

The victims were the suspect’s two sisters and cousins

Published:  November 27, 2020 16:19

Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent

Cairo: Saudi police have arrested a man suspected of gunning down four of his family, a media reported said Friday.

The multiple killings occurred in the governorate of Al Qunfudhah, part of the region of Mecca, according to news portal Sabq.

The dead victims were his two sisters and two cousins, including a woman.

The suspect used a machine gun and first killed his male cousin, at a school where the victim worked as a guard.

Afterwards he headed to his house’s two sisters (??) and sprayed them with a volley of bullets in front of their children, according to the report.

He later killed his female cousin before he fled. The suspect’s brother was involved in the crime and was also arrested, Sabq said.

The motive for the crime is not clear yet. Neither the nationality of the suspect or his age was given.

Daesh-linked militants brutally kill 4 Indonesian Christians

Group of sword-and-gun wielding attackers ambushed village in Sulawesi

Published:  November 28, 2020 17:19

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, has long wrestled with Islamist militancy and terror attacks, while Central Sulawesi has seen intermittent violence between Christians and Muslims for decades.

Image Credit: REUTERS

Palu, Indonesia: Daesh-linked extremists killed four people in a remote Christian community on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, authorities said Saturday, with one victim beheaded and another burned to death.

The group of sword-and-gun wielding attackers ambushed Lembantongoa village in Central Sulawesi province Friday morning, killing several residents and torching half a dozen homes, including one used for regular prayers and services, police said.

No arrests had yet been made and the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

But authorities pointed the finger at the Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), one of dozens of radical groups across the Southeast Asian archipelago that have pledged allegiance to Daesh.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, has long wrestled with Islamist militancy and terror attacks, while Central Sulawesi has seen intermittent violence between Christians and Muslims for decades.

“We reached the conclusion that they (the attackers) were from MIT after showing pictures of its members to relatives of the victims” who witnessed the ambush, said Sigi Regency police chief Yoga Priyahutama.

The makeshift church was empty at the time of the early morning attack by around eight militants, he added. “People were just in their homes when it happened,” Priyahutama said.

Lembantongoa village head Rifai, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said one victim was beheaded and another was nearly decapitated.

One of the other all-male victims was stabbed while a fourth was burned to death in his home, he added.

“Some residents managed to escape, but the victims didn’t make it,” Rifai told AFP.

Indonesia’s Christians have been targeted in the past, including in 2018 when Daesh-linked group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah staged a wave of suicide bombings by families - including young children - at churches in the country’s second-biggest city Surabaya, killing a dozen congregants.

If confirmed to be the work of MIT, Friday’s killings would be its first significant attack since the organisation’s leader was killed four years ago by Indonesia’s elite anti-terror squad, according to Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones.

“Through the attack... they want to show that police efforts to arrest and kill members of the group did not have any effect on” them, she said.

In 2018, MIT was believed to have sent radicals posing as humanitarian workers into Central Sulawesi’s quake-tsunami hit Palu city in a bid to recruit new members, Jones said.

Lembantongoa, Central Sulawesi