Displaying items by tag: bombing
Iraq: IS resurgence with Baghdad bombings
Christians in Iraq remain shaken by the twin suicide bombing in Baghdad. It was the first mass-casualty attack since 2018, killing at least 32 people and wounding more than a hundred. IS took credit, stirring fears of a resurgence. Samuel of Redemptive Stories says believers are shaken, but they’re pressing on to make Christ known. ‘I had the privilege to talk to a pastor on the very night of the suicide attacks and he said, ‘Our spiritual condition as a church is well; our physical condition is well; but our emotional state, as a church, is sad. The church had seen three years of almost peaceable activity. Now suddenly, out of nowhere, there are these significant attacks. The hope of Christ shines brightly amid such tumult.’
Philippines: Authorities surprised by Filipino jihad suicide bomber, thought suicide bombing “against local culture”
Confirmation that the attack involved a Filipino would mark a major escalation in terror tactics in the Southeast Asian nation, where authorities had long said suicide bombings went against local culture, analysts said.”
This is yet another illustration of the cost of authorities’ refusal to consider Islam as a motivating factor behind such phenomena as suicide bombing. They should have known that whatever “local culture” said about the matter, a zealous Muslim such as Norman Lasuca would consider cultural norms to be overrun by Qur’anic dictates:
“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties, for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed.” (Qur’an 9:111)
“Filipino’s Family Identifies Body Tagged by Military as Suicide Bomber,” by Jeoffrey Maitem and Jojo Rinoza, Benar News, July 2, 2019:
The Philippine military on Tuesday named an alleged Filipino militant as one of two suicide bombers whodetonated explosives while trying to enter a military camp on southern Jolo island last week, killing themselves and six people.
Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana identified the bomber as Norman Lasuca, 23, whose father was a Muslim convert and whose mother is a member of the island’s Tausug ethnic group.
“He is Filipino. This is hard for his family because they last saw him in 2014, according to the father,” Sobejana told BenarNews.
Confirmation that the attack involved a Filipino would mark a major escalation in terror tactics in the Southeast Asian nation, where authorities had long said suicide bombings went against local culture, analysts said.
Sobejana, the Western Mindanao Command chief, said family members had identified Lasuca by his head, which was severed in the blast. He said DNA tests would be conducted to confirm Lasuca’s identity.
Military officials said one of the two bombers managed to sprint past the gate of the 1st Battalion Combat Team in Jolo’s Indanan town and shouted “Allahu Akbar,” the Arabic phrase for “God is Great,” before setting off his vest packed with explosives. The other militant, who has not been identified, set off his bomb at the gate, killing three soldiers and three civilians.
The blasts injured 22 people, including 12 soldiers, authorities said.
Military intelligence reports indicate that Lasuca joined an Abu Sayyaf faction controlled by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, a religious elder identified by the U.S. Defense Department as the new head of Islamic State in the Philippines….
With reporting by Robert Spencer for Jihad Watch
Let us PRAY that these attacks do not escalate regardless of the ethnicity of the perpetrators.
Let us PRAY for the military to thwart any more acts of violence in the region and to bring the leaders of these extremist organisations to justice.
Easter violence
Egypt has had three days of mourning after two bombings of Coptic Christian churches by IS on Palm Sunday, killing 49 and injuring dozens. In response to the attacks, Egypt will set up a supreme council to counter terrorism and extremism. At the end of March Israel reported, ‘Egypt is likely to be subject to an IS terror attack in the near future.’ Eitan Ben-David, head of Israel's counter-terror bureau, said, ‘We don't want to cry wolf but we really believe that the threat is serious.’ In many countries, particularly Nigeria, Easter prompts heightened tension between Christians and Muslims. Nigerian churches will be overwhelmingly full, and Easter Monday is a holiday with crowds gathering at markets, beaches, etc. Historically Nigeria has experienced horrendous Easter church bombings. Other countries also experience Christian / Muslim tensions at Easter. In Pakistan last Easter, 75 were killed and 340 injured in Christian-targeted bombings. See also