Displaying items by tag: terrorist attack

Iran's foreign minister, blaming Israel for what Tehran called a 'terrorist attack' on its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, has vowed to take revenge: 'The Zionists did this because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions; they have publicly said that they will not allow that. But we will take our revenge upon them'. Natanz was hit by a cyber-attack just a day after Tehran unveiled new uranium enrichment centrifuges there. Centrifuges are used in the process to create enriched uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel but can also be used to create nuclear weapons. Israeli media said its Mossad spy agency was responsible for the attack.

A Christmas Eve attack by Boko Haram which left at least eleven dead and two church buildings razed to the ground prompted Nigerian bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri to issue a rallying cry, insisting Islamist violence is doomed to failure. Bishop Oliver said he was undaunted by the attack in Pemi, near Chibok, where over 270 mostly Christian schoolgirls had been kidnapped in 2016. Speaking after the attack, in which a priest was abducted, he said, ‘One thing that Boko Haram will never take from us is our faith. We will never allow our faith to be taken away by any evil. Our faith is becoming stronger and stronger. 100 people were baptised in one parish on Christmas Eve. People are so committed.’ The Bishop said that Boko Haram’s actions were in fact strengthening the Christian faith; his diocese has more Catholics than when there was no Boko Haram crisis.

On 29 November, Usman Khan injured three and killed two people in a knife rampage. Attending a conference on prisoner rehabilitation, he suddenly threatened to blow up the building. Wearing a fake suicide vest, he was tackled by members of the public before being shot dead by police on London Bridge. Andrew Nunn, Dean of Southwark, said it is hard to come to terms with the fact that there has been another terror attack on the community. ‘It felt as though time had shifted as I was faced again with people running away from the direction of the cathedral. I got into it just as a lock-down was being put in place. A visiting organist played gentle and calming music. I led prayers with all those there, seeking to reassure them without really knowing what was happening.’ He added that acts of terror can never defeat acts of love. Justin Welby tweeted, ‘What a privilege to live in a country where passersby are so astonishingly brave.’ See