Turkish court arrests two Uighurs in relation to Istanbul nightclub attack

January 13, 2017 Article

Two Chinese nationals of Uighur origin were arrested on Friday for suspected links to the mass shooting in an Istanbul night club on New Year’s Eve, state-run Anadolu agency said.

Two suspects, Omar Asim and Abuliezi Abuduhamiti, who are Chinese citizens, were remanded in custody on charges of being members of an armed terrorist organisation, and aiding in 39 counts of murder.

Turkish authorities last week said the man who killed 39 people in an attack on an Istanbul nightclub was probably an ethnic Uighur.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

Anadolu news agency also said 35 people had been detained so far in relation to the attack. Uighurs were among those detained, local media reports said.

The Uighurs are a largely Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority in far western China with significant diaspora communities across Central Asia and Turkey.

The suspect, who authorities have not named, shot his way into exclusive Istanbul nightclub Reina and opened fire with an automatic rifle, throwing stun grenades to allow himself to reload and shooting the wounded on the ground.

Among those killed in the attack were Turks and visitors from several Arab nations, India and Canada.

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Categories: Abuliezi Abuduhamiti, Chinese, Istanbul nightclub attack, News, Omar Asim, Uighur

Philippines kills leader of Islamic State-linked militant group in clash

January 6, 2017 Article

Philippine security forces killed the leader of a militant group supporting Islamic State in a clash early on Thursday, the country’s police chief said, warning against possible retaliation.

President Rodrigo Duterte recently cautioned against Islamic State taking root in the southeast Asian country, saying it needed to avoid “contamination”.

“I strongly believe that we have effectively broken the backbone of the militant Ansar Al-Khilafah Philippines (AKP),” Ronald Dela Rosa told a news conference to announce the death of the group’s leader, Mohammad Jaafar Maguid.

Three AKP colleagues of Maguid were also arrested in a police operation shortly after midnight at a resort in the southern province of Sarangani, he added.

“He is the recognized ISIS leader in that area,” Dela Rosa said, adding that Maguid, who goes by the alias “Tokboy”, was the “most wanted person” in the country’s south, sought for his involvement in crimes ranging from arson and murder to bombings.

Police recovered two armalite rifles, a hand grenade, and M-16 magazines, from Maguid and the three men, identified as Matahata Dialawe Arboleda, Ismael Sahak, and Morhaban Veloso.

The AKP and the Maute militant group, which has also pledged allegiance to Islamic State, are among a handful of small groups authorities blame for years of unrest in the Philippine south.

The killing and the arrests would “momentarily weaken” the group, Dela Rosa said, but a new leader could emerge eventually and launch fresh attacks.

“We expect some retaliation from the ISIS-inspired groups,” he added. “We should expect, and we should be very vigilant against, this possible retaliation.”

Philippine security forces are on full alert ahead of Monday’s feast of the Black Nazarene in the capital Manila. It usually draws millions of devotees for a procession through the streets that runs for hours.

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Categories: Islamic State, killing, militant Ansar Al-Khilafah Philippines, News, Philippines

Gunman kills 39 in Istanbul nightclub, manhunt under way

January 1, 2017 Article

A gunman opened fire on New Year revellers at a packed nightclub on the shores of Istanbul’s Bosphorus waterway on Sunday killing at least 39 people, including many foreigners, then fled the scene.

Some people jumped into the Bosphorus to save themselves after the attacker began shooting at random in the Reina nightclub just over an hour into the new year. Witnesses described diving under tables as the assailant walked around spraying bullets from an automatic rifle.

The attack shook NATO member Turkey as it tries to recover from a failed July coup and a series of deadly bombings in cities including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, some blamed on Islamic State and others claimed by Kurdish militants.

Security services had been on alert across Europe for new year celebrations following an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people. Only days ago, an online message from a pro-Islamic State group called for attacks by “lone wolves” on “celebrations, gatherings and clubs”.

“At first we thought some men were fighting with each other,” said a Lebanese woman who gave her name as Hadeel and who was in the club with her husband and a friend. “Then we heard the sound of the gunfire and ducked under the tables.

“We heard the guy screaming Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), all three of us heard that … We heard his footsteps crushing the broken glass,” she told Reuters. “We got out through the kitchen, there was blood everywhere and bodies.”

Officials spoke of a single attacker, a “lone wolf” in the parlance of Islamic State, but some reports citing witnesses including on social media suggested there may have been several.

The incident bore echoes of an attack by militant Islamists on Paris’s Bataclan music hall in November 2015 that, along with assaults on bars and restaurants, killed 130 people.

Nationals of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, Libya, Israel, a Turkish-Belgian dual citizen and a Franco-Tunisian woman were among those killed, officials said. Saudi newspaper al-Riyadh said five of the dead were from Saudi Arabia.

France said three of its citizens were wounded.

A massive security operation unfolded to track down the fugitive assailant or assailants and any conspirators.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 15 or 16 of those killed at Reina were foreigners but only 21 bodies had so far been identified. He told reporters 69 people were in hospital, four of them in critical condition.

Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State and launched an incursion into Syria in August to drive the radical Sunni militants from its borders. It also helped broker a fragile ceasefire in Syria with Russia.

“As a nation, we will fight to the end against not just the armed attacks of terror groups, but also against their economic, political and social attacks,” President Tayyip Erdogan said in a written statement.

“They are trying to create chaos, demoralize our people, and destabilize our country … We will retain our cool-headedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games,” he said.

Reina is one of Istanbul’s best known nightspots, popular with local high society and foreigners. Some 600 people were thought to be inside when the gunman shot dead a policeman and civilian at the door, forced his way in and then opened fire.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said the attacker used a “long-range weapon” to “brutally and savagely” fire on people, apparently referring to some form of assault rifle.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed condolences and directed his team to offer help to the Turkish authorities, the White House said. President Vladimir Putin Putin said Russia remained Turkey’s reliable partner in fighting terrorism, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

“POLICE MOVED IN QUICKLY”

Dozens of ambulances and police vehicles were dispatched to the club in Ortakoy, a neighbourhood on the city’s European side nestled under one of three bridges crossing the Bosphorus and home to nightclubs, restaurants and art galleries.

“I didn’t see who was shooting but heard the gun shots and people fled. Police moved in quickly,” Sefa Boydas, a Turkish soccer player, wrote on Twitter.

“My girlfriend was wearing high heels. I lifted her and carried her out on my back,” he said.

Hurriyet quoted Reina’s owner, Mehmet Kocarslan, as saying security measures had been taken over the past 10 days after U.S. intelligence reports suggested a possible attack.

Turkey faces multiple threats including spillover from the war in Syria. Beside its cross-border campaign against Islamic State, it is fighting Kurdish militants in its southeast.

The New Year’s Day attack came five months after a failed military coup, in which more than 240 people were killed, many of them in Istanbul, as rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets in a bid to seize power.

More than 100,000 people, including soldiers and police officers, have been sacked or suspended in a subsequent crackdown ordered by Erdogan, raising concern both about civic rights and the effectiveness of Turkey’s security apparatus.

On Dec. 28, the Nashir Media Foundation, which backs Islamic State, urged sympathisers to carry out attacks in Europe during the holiday period and to “replace their fireworks with explosive belts and devices, and turn their singing and clapping into weeping and wailing”.

A month ago, a spokesman for Islamic State urged supporters to target “the secular, apostate Turkish government”.

Turkey has seen repeated attacks in recent weeks. On Dec. 10, two bombs claimed by Kurdish militants exploded outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul, killing 44 people.

A car bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded 56 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central city of Kayseri a week later, an attack Erdogan also blamed on Kurdish militants.

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot dead as he gave a speech in Ankara on Dec. 19 by an off-duty police officer who shouted “Don’t forget Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar”.

In June, around 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded as three suspected Islamic State militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul’s main Ataturk airport.

A former employee of the Reina nightclub reacts outside following an attack by a gunman in Istanbul, Turkey, January 1, 2017. REUTERS/Huseyin Aldemir

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Categories: Bosphorus, Islamic State, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin, New Year, News, Nightclub Attack, Turkey Attack

Islamic State attacks Iraqi police near Najaf, kills seven

January 1, 2017 Article

Islamic State attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday, killing seven policemen as government forces in the north made more gains against the militants in Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country.

The Najaf attack, which involved gunmen and a suicide car bomb, followed blasts a day earlier in Baghdad that left 29 people dead, a reminder of Islamic State’s continued ability to operate away from territory under its control.

The recapture of Mosul would probably spell the end for the group’s self-styled caliphate in it areas seized in 2014, but the militants would still be capable of fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq, and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.

Since the U.S.-backed offensive began on Oct. 17, elite forces have retaken a quarter of Mosul in the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the group would be driven out of the country by April.

The second phase of the campaign launched on Thursday following weeks of deadlock has pushed Islamic State out of several more areas despite fierce resistance.

The fourth day of the renewed push saw incremental advances on the eastern and southeastern fronts.

A military statement said the counter-terrorism forces had retaken part of Karama district.

A federal police officer said Iraqi forces had taken near total control of Intisar and Siha neighbourhoods, and were clearing Salam.

“For the fourth day in a row, federal police units supported by the army are on the offensive,” he told Reuters at a forward base in Intisar.

The attack near Najaf, 500 km (310 mile) south of Mosul, happened when two vehicles travelling through the desert were stopped at a police checkpoint around al-Qadisiya town, local police sources said.

The driver detonated an explosive load and the second vehicle fled. Police pursued it and killed the two militants inside.

In a statement distributed online by supporters, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded 17 people including civilians. It said four gunmen had opened fire before detonating explosive vests and then a fifth assailant launched a suicide car bomb.

It was not immediately possible to reconcile those accounts.

FLEEING CIVILIANS

Although the militants are vastly outnumbered in Mosul, they have embedded themselves among residents, hindering Iraqi forces who are trying to avoid civilian casualties. Despite food and water shortages, most civilians have stayed in their homes rather than fleeing as had been expected.

Thousands more people have fled their homes since the military’s new push began, many under the cover of darkness to avoid detection by Islamic State.

Families leaving Mithaq district on Sunday had to climb over earthen berms the military has built across roads to block car bombs.

One resident reached by phone in eastern Mosul said he had never seen such heavy bombardment. Several civilians were wounded when a mortar fell in his street, but they could not be ferried to the hospital on the western side of the city because air strikes have taken all the bridges out of service.

“One of them is my friend. His stomach is bleeding badly. We found a doctor in the neighbourhood to treat him but I fear he will die if he stays like this for long,” he said.

A resident of Karama district said Islamic State had begun forcing residents out of some areas, burning the cars of residents who refused to move.

“They want to clear out the neighbourhood before the Iraqi forces enter,” he said.

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Categories: Baghdad, Iraqi Police, Islamic State, Mosul, Najaf, News

Stop Arabic From Becoming the Language of Fear

December 30, 2016 Article

By Hannah Leach @ehlleach
ehlleach.wixsite.com/musings

It must be said we live in the midst of turbulent times. As forced displacement figures reach all time highs, a distinctly anti-immigrant wave of right-wing populism surges forth to meet it, with big “wins” being witnessed across the leadership board in the Western sphere. Whether the candidacy of figureheads such as Farage and Trump are manifestations of popular sentiment or they managed to successfully exploit times of uncertainty for political gain is another question, but the narrative they promote reaches far and wide into our everyday happenings like a fiendishly twisty ideological octopus.

The point being: the world is becoming paranoid, and the siren of fear, so purposefully manipulated by such politicians, media and other like-minded opportunists, is beginning to deafen us to the point where, apparently, well-grounded reason is no longer audible any more. The EU’s less than adequate handling of a steep influx of migration from both war-torn and economically-destitute countries, i.e. buttressing the existing walls of Fortress Europe and systematically violating human rights law by creating policy that forcibly repatriates vulnerable asylum seekers and migrants, has only worsened the climate for those in need of safe havens. Yet, this closed-minded mentality doesn’t stop at shuttering down the borders, it extends to our everyday interactions to boot. Let’s get into it:

Last week Delta Airlines were at the epicentre of a public affairs scandal following their forced removal of 2 young Arab-American males from a passenger plane heading from London – New York for “speaking a different language”. The language? Arabic. So-acclaimed Youtube star, Adam Saleh and his friend, Slim Albaher, filmed themselves being unceremoniously booted off their flight after a nearby passenger supposedly overheard Adam talking on the phone to his mother and informed him that she was “feeling uncomfortable”. Several other passengers backed her up, some even aggressively so, after which the flight attendants, asked the pair to leave the aircraft, with pilot in tow. Now, Adam Saleh has filmed an array of tongue-in-cheek social experiments around the idea of discrimination against Muslims and anti-Muslim stereotypes, so accounts of the incident vary from source to source. That being said, prankster or no, he sheds important light on the wider phenomenon of Islamophobia that is so prevalent today.

Right now, we sit at the intersection of Islamophobia and mass migration (by those seeking a better life, a large contingent of which are also escaping the brutal Assad regime and the throes of violent persecution, robbed of their sovereignty). It’s up to us to use every weapon in our ethical arsenals to twist free of these exaggerated perceptions thrust upon us and look to each other as human beings, free of misconceptions.

Stop others from co-opting Arabic as the language of fear.

Arabic had a rich heritage before it became so steeped in paranoia. It is the language of poetry, of literature, science, astronomy and philosophy from ancient Arab civilisations. But now, when we hear it, our minds spring to one word: “terrorist”. How have we reduced such a pillar of human development to one caricatured man with a beard and a bomb cowering in the belly of a plane? As an Arabic student, it exasperates me that this beautiful tongue is being tarred with such an ugly reputation, that represents a hugely disproportionate minority of Arabic speakers worldwide.

I say “we”, because it’s only human that after intensive bombardment from Western media circles that frame migration issues in a calculated attempt to create suspicion and fear of ordinary people, we become suspicious and fearful of ordinary people. But we have to challenge ourselves.

My mother recently told me a story about a family she noticed walking through a Texas airport in the wake of the Berlin truck attack, having arrived on a plane from Turkey. They were making their way through the arrivals hall, heads down, avoiding eye contact with other passengers. Perhaps they were just lost in their thoughts, but perhaps they were fearful of reprisals by social vigilantes who might take it upon themselves to “make America great again”. She expressed feeling a deep-seated sadness that they should feel victimised to the extent that they expect harassment before respect, prejudice before mutual tolerance, animosity before openness. She wanted to look them in the eye and reassure them that they were not being held accountable for a militant minority’s actions, but sadly, and understandably, the family kept themselves to themselves and the moment passed. What would you have done?

Twitter reactions via hashtags such as #DeltaIntolerance and #DeltaRacist demonstrated a healthy dose of public outrage at the extremist profiling of the 2 young men, but I was surprised to witness some on the more progressive end of the spectrum (both Muslim and otherwise) defending Delta’s actions on the basis that the pair incited a reaction at a sensitive moment. To that, I say this: your one moment of discomfort or offense is well overshadowed by multiple instances of ethnic and religious discrimination for Muslim and other minority communities all over the Western World.

How can we ensure freedom of expression/ of speech in a fair and just society when we cripple the tools to do so? Language goes to the core of our identity, so imagine how you would feel if yours suddenly became the language of fear. A few passengers, who appeared to be mostly ethnic minorities themselves, stood up in that Delta Airlines cabin in defence of Saleh and Albaher, while the rest either heckled them to leave, or looked the other way until the “ordeal” was over. These are the moments when we decide how we move forward, that shape our outlook and the experience of every community within our society and how they fit together. The least we can do is to keep a common dialogue open.

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Categories: #DeltaIntolerance, Adam Saleh, anti-Muslim hatred, Arabic, Opinions, Planes, terrorism

Tell MAMA, Our Achievements, Our Effectiveness & Ensuring Positive Change

December 27, 2016 Article

Changing the parliamentary debate on anti-Muslim hate, counter-extremism and Muslim communities

Throughout 2015 and 2016 our staff gave oral and written evidence to various Home Affairs Select Committees. This includes the countering extremism inquiry, the employment opportunities for Muslims in the UK inquiry, and the hate crime and its violent consequences inquiry.

Tell MAMA cited in the Casey Review

Dame Louise Casey was asked to undertake a review into integration and opportunity in our most isolated and deprived communities in 2015. The findings were revealed in a 199-page report. On issues of anti-Muslim hate crime, the report cites figures from our 2015 annual report. On intra-Muslim issues, the Casey Review mentions the rising number of anti-Ahmadiyya cases reported to our service in 2016. The growing violence and bigotry against the Ahmadiyya community is expanded upon in the Faith Matters report ‘Sectarianism, Extremism and Hate Crime, the Impacts on the Ahmadiyya Community’.

Supporting the safety of Muslim students in universities

The Universities UK report ‘Changing the Culture: Report of the Universities UK Taskforce Examining Violence against Women, Harassment and Hate Crime Affecting University Students’ draws heavily from our 2015 annual report and expertise when providing safety tips for Muslim students.

Launching the first ever awards to celebrate those who challenge hate

Tell MAMA and partners celebrate the first annual National Hate Crime Awards 2016. The first annual National Hate Crime Awards took place on November 17, 2016. It celebrated the ‘upstanders’ in our society who have taken a stand against all forms of hate, intolerance and prejudice nationwide. This was part of our wider #No2h8November campaign which has received support from the office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner and members of parliament – including Nusrat Ghani MP. Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), was one of the keynote speakers during the prestigious event. A full list of winners is available online.

Working with government & strengthening communities

In the forward for the government’s wide ranging Hate Crime Action Plan, Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), highlighted the work of Tell MAMA. Our data appears in the religious hate crime section of the Hate Crime Action Plan.

In the media

On July 11 2016, a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary titled ‘Racist Britain’ featured the work of Tell MAMA. The programme explored the rise in racism and xenophobia following the EU Referendum result. Several months later, this topic, and the increase of cases reported to Tell MAMA were also highlighted on the BBC’s flagship Crimewatch programme.

2015 annual report launch in parliament

We launched our annual report in Parliament on June 29. This ground-breaking report titled ‘The Geography of Anti-Muslim Hatred’, it revealed that Muslim women are more likely to be attacked than men in most settings. The largest proportion of perpetrators are white males. This means that the largest proportion of incidents involves Muslim women, usually wearing Islamic clothing – be it the hijab, abaya or niqab. Verbal abuse from men often carries misogynistic, racist and Islamophobic overtones.

Working with the Crown Prosecution Service

Our response to the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) consultation on social media has helped shape their revised guidelines.

Increasing partnerships work with police forces

As we close out 2016, Tell MAMA has partnership agreements in place with 18 separate UK police forces: Metropolitan, City of London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Humberside, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, Bedfordshire, Dorset, Warwickshire, West Mercia, British Transport Police and Police Service of Northern Ireland. As our Partnerships Officer Jeff Arnold said:

“Although Tell MAMA is a completely independent organisation, it is vital that we work closely with police forces so that we can improve their knowledge of anti-Muslim hatred, ensure that all hate crimes are taken seriously and help victims to access information about their cases when necessary.”

Our work in Europe

At a European level, our hate crime data continues to inform the OSCE/ODIHR on a yearly basis. Our staff contributed to the ‘Forgotten Women: the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim women’ project for the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). Our continued engagement at a European level has included various speaking engagements. This included the first European Union (EU) Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights on anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hatred and hate speech on February 16.

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Categories: Crown Prosecution Service, Hate Crimes, News, Nusrat Ghani MP, ODIHR, OSCE, police forces

Jordanian police storm castle, free tourists, operation continuing – security source

December 18, 2016 Article

Jordanian security forces freed tourists trapped inside a medieval castle on Sunday after storming the building where armed men had taken shelter following a shoot-out with police that killed at least nine people, security sources said.

A Canadian woman, three other civilians and five police officers were among the nine killed during the exchange of gunfire between the assailants and security forces. At least 29 people were taken to hospital, some with serious injuries, the sources said.

Police in the mountainous city of Karak had earlier freed 10 people, including foreign tourists, but some were still being held in the Crusader-era castle from where the gunmen shot at security forces who were surrounding it, a security source said.

The identity of the assailants was not immediately clear.

A former government minister from Karak city, Sameeh Maaytah, said there were signs Islamist militants may have been behind the attack but the government has so far steered away from saying this.

“The operation is continuing, it has not ended and the criminals are still inside the castle … This was a group that was plotting certain operations inside Jordan,” Maaytah told pan-Arab news channel al-Hadath.

Video footage on social media showed security forces taking groups of young Asian tourists up the castle’s steep steps to its main entrance as gunshots were heard overhead.

Jordanian policemen stand guard in the vicinity of Kerak Castle where armed gunmen carried out an attack, in the city of Karak, Jordan, December 18, 2016.REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

The castle is one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions.

Prime Minister Hani al Mulki told parliament “a number of security personnel” had been killed and that security forces were laying siege to the castle. The Canadian government confirmed one of its nationals had been killed.

Police and witnesses said gunmen had earlier gone on a shooting spree aimed at officers patrolling the town before entering the castle, perched on top of a hill. They used one of the castle’s towers to fire at a nearby police station.

Police said the gunmen had arrived from the desert town of Qatraneh nearly 30 km northeast of Karak city, a desert outpost known for smuggling, where many tribal residents are heavily armed.

They had fled to Karak after an exchange of fire with the police at a residential building, security forces said.

Jordan is one of the few Arab states that have taken part in a U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants holding territory in Syria. But many Jordanians oppose their country’s involvement, saying it has led to the killing of fellow Muslims and raised security threats inside Jordan.

Officials worry about radical Islam’s growing profile in Jordan and support in impoverished areas for militant groups.

People follow the security operations in the vicinity of Kerak Castle where armed gunmen carried out an attack, in the city of Karak, Jordan, December 18, 2016.REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

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Categories: Crusader Fort, Daesh, errorism, Islamic State, Jordan, Karak

Vigil to mourn victims of Cairo church bombing

December 17, 2016 Article

A vigil takes place in Cairo to remember those who lost their lives in a bombing at the city’s largest Coptic cathedral last Sunday (December 11).

Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a suicide bombing that killed at least 25 people.

The militant group said in a statement carried by its news agency Amaq that a suicide bomber whom it identified as Abu Abdallah al-Masri had detonated his explosive belt inside the church.

“Every infidel and apostate in Egypt and everywhere should know that our war … continues,” it said.

The Interior Ministry identified the bomber on Monday as 22-year-old student Mahmoud Shafik Mohammed Mostafa, and said he was a supporter of the banned Muslim Brotherhood political movement who had joined a militant cell while on the run from police.

In an interview with Reuters, Mostafa’s mother said he had been sexually abused in police custody in 2014, but that she had seen no sign that he had been radicalised.

In addition to the dead, at least 49 people were wounded when the bomb went off in a chapel adjoining St Mark’s Cathedral, Cairo’s largest church and seat of the Coptic Christian papacy.

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Categories: Cairo, Christians, Coptic Church, Daesh, Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood, News, terrorism

Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians

December 11, 2016 Article

A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt’s Christian minority in years.

The attack comes as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fights battles on several fronts. His economic reforms have angered the poor, a bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed, whilst an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by the Egyptian branch of Islamic State.

The militant group has also carried out deadly attacks in Cairo and has urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world in recent weeks as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but exiled Brotherhood officials and home-grown militant groups condemned the attack. Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media.

“God bless the person who did this blessed act,” wrote one supporter on Telegram.

The explosion took place in a chapel, which adjoins St Mark’s, Cairo’s main cathedral and the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, where security is normally tight.

The United States said it “will continue to work with its partners to defeat such terrorist acts” and that it was committed to Egypt’s security, according to a White House statement on Sunday.

The UN Security Council urged “all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities” to hold those responsible accountable.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned what he called the latest in a series of “brutal terrorist attacks” and said he was praying for the dead and wounded.

The chapel’s floor was covered in debris from shattered windows, its wooden pews blasted apart, its pillars blackened. Here and there lay abandoned shoes and sticky patches of blood.

“As soon as the priest called us to prepare for prayer, the explosion happened,” Emad Shoukry, who was inside when the blast took place, told Reuters.

“The explosion shook the place … the dust covered the hall and I was looking for the door, although I couldn’t see anything … I managed to leave in the middle of screams and there were a lot of people thrown on the ground.”

Security sources told Reuters at least six children were among the dead, with the blast detonating on the side of the church normally used by women.

They said the explosion was caused by a device containing at least 12 kg (26 pounds) of TNT.

Police and armoured vehicles rushed to the area, as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound demanding revenge for the attack that took place on a Muslim holiday marking the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday and weeks before Christmas. Scuffles broke out with police.

A woman sitting near the cathedral in traditional long robes shouted, “kill them, kill the terrorists, what are you waiting for? … Why are you leaving them to bomb our homes?”

Egyptian security officials and investigators inspect the scene following a bombing inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral in Egypt December 11, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

“EGYPTIAN BLOOD IS CHEAP”

Though Egypt’s Coptic Christians have traditionally been supporters of the government, angry crowds turned their ire against Sisi, saying his government had failed to protect them.

“As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down, down with any president,” they chanted. Others chanted “the people demand the fall of the regime”, the rallying cry of the 2011 uprising that helped end Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

Sisi’s office condemned what it described as a terrorist attack, declaring three days of mourning and promising justice. Al-Azhar, Egypt’s main Islamic centre of learning, also denounced the attacks.

Orthodox Copts, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90 million people, are the Middle East’s biggest Christian community.

Copts face regular attack by Muslim neighbours, who burn their homes and churches in poor rural areas, usually in anger over an inter-faith romance or the construction of church.

The last major attack on a church took place as worshippers left a New Year’s service in Alexandria weeks before the start of the 2011 uprising. At least 21 people were killed.

Egypt’s Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since Islamic State spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities. In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya were killed by Islamic State.

The attack came two days after six police were killed in two bomb attacks, one of them claimed by Hasm, a recently-emerged group the government says is linked to the Brotherhood, which has been banned under Sisi as a terrorist organisation.

The Brotherhood says it is peaceful. Several exiled Brotherhood officials condemned the bombing, as did Hasm and Liwaa’ al-Thawra, another local militant group.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II cut short a visit to Greece after learning of the attack. Church officials said they would not allow the bombing to create sectarian differences.

But Christians, convinced attacks on them are not seriously investigated, say this time they want justice.

“Where was the security? There were five or six security cars stationed outside so where were they when 12 kg of TNT was carried inside?” said Mena Samir, 25, standing at the church’s metal gate. “They keep telling us national unity, the crescent with the cross … This time we will not shut up.”

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Categories: Al Azhar, Cairo Bombing, Christians, Coptic Pope Tawadros II, News, Sisi, terrorism

U.S. estimates 50,000 Islamic State fighters killed so far – U.S. official

December 10, 2016 Article

The U.S. military believes that some 50,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since the United States started battling the group more than two years ago, a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday, calling it a “conservative estimate.”

The official, who spoke to Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity, said the figure showed how the United States was effectively combating the group with U.S.-led coalition airpower and limited U.S. troop deployments in support of local forces.

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Categories: 000, 50, Daesh, fighters, Iraq, Islamic State, News, Syria, US