French Islamist killed after 3 attacks, 32-hour standoff
Sarah DiLorenzo and Johanna Decorse
Toulouse shootings gunman Mohamed Merah was killed after a 32-hour stand-off with police Photo: France 2
TOULOUSE, France -- Inspired by radical Islam and trained in Afghanistan, the gunman methodically killed French schoolchildren, a rabbi and paratroopers and faced down hundreds of police for 32 hours. Then he leapt out a window as he rained down gunfire and was fatally shot in the head.
Extremist suspect in French killings profits far right in presidential race; Muslims afraid
( Jacques Brinon / Associated Press ) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy stands by soldiers carrying a coffin during a ceremony to pay homage to the three soldiers killed by a suspect an Interior Ministry official identified as Mohammad Merah, claiming al-Qaida links, and also suspected in the killings of three
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, March 22, 7:26 AMAP
PARIS — French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says her anti-Islam agenda has been vindicated: The chief suspect in the country’s worst killing spree in years is a French Muslim claiming ties to al-Qaida.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has borrowed from Le Pen’s playbook in the campaign for the presidential election in April and expected runoff in May, with talk of halving immigration and lamenting widespread availability of halal meat. It’s too soon to tell how an all-day standoff with the suspect Wednesday could affect his chances for a second term.
Blaise Pascal had this to say about Cleopatra’s nose: “Had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.” The same cannot be said of a more contemporary Egyptian politician, Anwar al-Balkimy, a member of Parliament from the country’s ultraconservative al-Nour Party. The lawmaker’s once-prominent nose has become decidedly shorter, but all that’s changed is he’s been forced to resign. As for the face of the world, well, it can’t help but smile at the flood of nose puns that has washed over the Internet.
When American girls get a 16th-birthday nose job, the typical coverup is the old “deviated septum” excuse. To explain why his face was covered in bandages after his Feb. 28 operation, al-Balkimy resorted to an explanation that, in Egypt, is sadly more believable: He was jumped by gunmen, who also happened to steal the $16,000 he was allegedly carrying.
Islamists in Egypt Use Rumors to Attack Christians
Salafis attack in one village, while officials in another overturn evictions.
By Wayne King
ISTANBUL, March 5 (Compass Direct News) – Tensions remain high in an Egyptian village where as many as 5,000 mostly Salafi Muslims went on a rampage over a false rumor that a church was holding a girl against her will in order to convert her back to Christianity.
Dismissing media reports of 20,000 rioting Muslims, sources told Compass that between 2,000 and 5,000 hard-line Muslims, most of them from the Salafi movement, last month harassed Christian villagers in Meet Bahsar in the Nile Delta, attacked a church building in a misguided effort to “save” the girl, damaged a priest’s house and then destroyed his car.
CAIRO — An Egyptian Islamist MP was forced to resign from parliament and from his party after claiming that he was injured in a carjacking, when he had in fact had a nose job, his party said on Monday.
A bruised and bandaged Anwar al-Bilkimy had appeared on television last week saying he was the victim of a carjacking and spoke of how gunmen beat him and stole 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($16,500).
Egypt says man seized at airport not al Qaeda leader
From Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, for CNN
"Most Wanted Terrorist" poster of Saif al-Adel released by the FBI on October 10, 2001. In an apparent mix up, Egypt says the man they seized at Cairo's airport was not Saif al-Adel.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Egyptian Interior Ministry says the man is not al-Adel
NEW: Two U.S. officials also doubt al-Adel was seized
Saif al-Adel is wanted by the United States
The Pakistan-based al Qaeda has been in decline, an official says
Cairo (CNN) -- Investigators in Egypt said a man they seized Wednesday is a wanted for terror-related crimes, but he is not Saif al-Adel, a notorious leader in the al Qaeda terror network.
This undated picture released 10 October 2001 by the FBI shows Egyptian Saif al-Adel. Al-Adel is on the US list of 22 "most wanted" suspected terrorists released three days ago. AFP Photo / HO-FBI)
A man detained at Cairo airport and initially reported to be the high-ranking Al-Qaeda commander Saif Al-Adel, is an Islamist ex-militant wanted by the homeland security, Egyptian security officials now say.
On Wednesday morning, Egyptian security forces were expecting Saif Al-Adel, one of the FBI’s most wanted men, to fly in from Pakistan or Afghanistan. Their intelligence said the key member of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle intended to turn himself in and would be travelling under his real name of Mohammed Ibrahim Makkawi.
Paul Woolwich, the executive producer of new Channel 4 documentary Proud and Prejudiced, on getting to know two of Britain’s most controversial protest leaders
A large group of English Defence League members are watched by mounted police before marching through LutonPhoto: PA
When Time magazine named ‘the protestor’ as its person of the year 2011 its editorial staff had in mind protest movements that had sprung from locations across the globe: Tunisia, Tahrir Square, Wall Street, Athens, Moscow and more. They were not thinking of Luton in Bedfordshire.
British Muslims recruited to fight for 'al-Qaeda' in Somalia
Dozens of radicalised British Muslims are being trained by militant Islamists to fight in a “holy war” in Somalia, it can be revealed.
Somali hardline islamist Hisbul Islam militia walk past at a training camp on the outskirts of Afgoye district in Somalia's lower Shabelle regionPhoto: AFP/GETTY
By Sean Rayment, Security Correspondent and Colin Freeman, Chief Foreign Correspondent
Up to 50 British “volunteers”, including white Christian converts and British-Somali men, have been recruited to fight for Al Shabaab, the al-Qaeda inspired Somali terrorist group.
(AINA) -- A public meeting was held on February 16 in Alexandria, after the fact-finding commission delegated by parliament went to investigate the facts surrounding the decision made on February 1 by a village tribunal, composed of villagers and parliamentary members, mostly from Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood parties, to forcibly evict eight Coptic families from Sharbat village (Ameriya), in Alexandria, and seize their property, based on allegations of a video clip of an illicit relationship between a Coptic man and a Muslim woman (AINA 2-9-2012).
The fact-finding commission, made up of two Copts, two Liberals and the Salafi members of parliament, Shaikh Sherif Hawary, who was responsible for the tribunal of February 1, met with representatives of the evicted Coptic families, the tribunal's members and two priests.
Handing down multiple life sentences, US District Judge Nancy Edmunds criticised the Nigerian al-Qaeda sympathiser for failing to show remorse, adding: "This is a just punishment."
Turkish Christians Subject to Discrimination, Attacks, Report Says
Textbooks, media vilify followers of Christ; intolerance an ‘urgent problem.’
By Will Morris
ISTANBUL, February 14 (Compass Direct News) – Despite some promising developments, Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group.
In its annual “Report on Human Rights Violations,” released in January, the country’s Association of Protestant Churches notes mixed indicators of improvement but states that there is a “root of intolerance” in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths.
20,000 Muslims Attempt to Kill Pastor and Torch Church in Egypt
(AINA) -- A mob of nearly 20,000 radical Muslims, mainly Salafis, attempted this evening to break into and torch the Church of St. Mary and St. Abram in the village of Meet Bashar,in Zagazig, Sharqia province. They were demanding the death of Reverend Guirgis Gameel, pastor of the church, who has been unable to leave his home since yesterday. Nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts and torch the building. A home of a Copt living near the church and the home of the church's porter were torched, as well as three cars.
Egyptian Police Prevent Christian Protesters From Reaching Parliament
(AINA) -- Egyptian Security forces yesterday prevented a rally of hundreds of Copts and activists from various political groups from reaching the Egyptian Parliament. The rally was staged to condemn the eviction of 8 Coptic families from their homes in El-Ameriya in Alexandria, on January 27 (AINA 2-9-2012).
The protestors were angry at the Parliament Speaker, who ignored last week an urgent request submitted by elected Coptic member of Parliament Dr. Emad Gad, to discuss this issue. The protesters said they wanted to meet with members of parliament, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi parties to inform them of their condemnation of the events in El-Ameriya. Two Copts, Hani Ramsis and John Talaat, were chosen as delegates to the Parliament Speaker to deliver the message "No to reconciliation sittings or to the displacement of the Copts in El-Ameriya."
Egypt: Salafis demand 62 Copt families leave their village
The last Christians in Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Amerya) are to be forcefully expelled, making the town 100% Muslim. This is not a pipe dream, this is the reality of Salafi influence and the widespread persecution of all Christians across Egypt since the "Arab Spring." Copts are almost gone from Egypt and I fear once they are gone, the country will turn its attention towards their next batch of undesirables/
Two Coptic Priests Charged With 'Incitement' in Maspero Massacre
By Mary Abdelmassih
Father Mattias Nasr Father Filopateer Gameel
(AINA) -- Two Coptic priests appeared yesterday before an investigations judge in connection with the events of the Maspero Massacre, in which 28 Copts were killed and 329 injured after being shot and run over by and military Armored Personnel Carriers (AINA 10-10-2011). Father Mattias Nasr of St. Mary's Church in Ezbet el-Nakhl in Greater Cairo and Father Filopateer Gameel of St. Mary's Church in Giza, both founding members of the Maspero Coptic Youth Union, which organized the October 9 demonstration, were accused of causing the death of military soldier Mohamed Ali Shetta, possession of weapons, use of force against the military, attempting to storm the Maspero TV building and incitement to violence.
Muslim Council in Egypt Evicts 8 Christian Families, Seizes Their Property
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) -- National and international rights groups have consistently criticized the recourse to the so-called "reconciliation meetings" -- dubbed "Bedouin sittings" -- that take place between Copts and Muslim assailant after every attack on Copts. The meetings are conducted under the auspices of state security. Last week a series of meetings were held by radical Muslims to decide on the fate of the Copts in a village in Alexandria, and Muslims insisted that the whole Coptic population of 62 families must be deported because of an unsubstantiated accusation levied against one Coptic man.
Terrorists admit plot to bomb London Stock Exchange and US Embassy
Four al-Qaeda inspired terrorists have pleaded guilty to plotting a Christmas bomb attack on the London Stock Exchange, the American embassy and the home of London Mayor Boris Johnson.
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(Clockwise from top left) Mohammed Shahjahan, Omar Latif (centre), Nazam Hussain, Usman Khan and Mohibur RahmanPhoto: PA
AFP - The Pakistani security services are secretly helping Afghanistan's Taliban, who assume their victory is inevitable once Western troops leave, a secret NATO document says, according to reports Wednesday.
The leaked "State of the Taliban" report -- seen by the BBC and The Times newspaper -- was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees and was given to NATO commanders in Afghanistan last month, the media reports said.
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