Threat Matrix: February 2007

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[nwctwx]

How al-Qaida Fared in 2006
-Full Story-

In 2006, agents of al-Qaida, as well as those inspired by its ideology, continued their attacks. Violence in Iraq intensified, and Afghanistan saw its bloodiest year since 2001.

Despite worsening chaos on those fronts, counterterrorist forces arrested and killed high-profile terrorists and kept the West free from attack. But these actions don't appear to have weakened the appeal of al-Qaida's agenda. "Home-grown" militants around the world joined its jihad, as regional fighting heightened perceptions of a global war on Islam.

Here's an assessment of some of the most significant gains and losses for al-Qaida last year: Read more..

	Azzam the American: The Making of an al Qaida Homegrown
	Islamic Cells of Revenge Joins the al Qaida Movement
	Most Dangerous Destinations 2007

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[Oorang]

Pakistan arrests militant chief
February 06, 2007

PAKISTANI police have arrested the chief of a banned Sunni Muslim militant group with links to al-Qaeda along with four of his colleagues.

Rizwan Ahmad, the head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi organisation, was seized in the eastern city of Lahore yesterday on suspicion of preparing suicide attacks, a senior police investigator, Omar Virk, said.

Police were still hunting for another suspect believed to be carrying suicide belts and other weaponry, Mr Virk said.

Excerpted

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21179182-38197,00.html

Ovation for fiery Mahathir's claim West worse than al-Qaeda
February 6, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: About 2000 activists applauded as the leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia were branded "fascist war criminals" at a conference in Malaysia featuring gruesome exhibits of their alleged crimes.

The former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad hosted the conference and won applause yesterday for calling for the leaders to be tried by an unofficial tribunal for war crimes in Iraq. He said the war had caused more terror than al-Qaeda.

Excerpted

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/ovation-for-fiery-mahathirs-claim-west-worse-than-alqaeda/2007/02/05/1170524027302.html

[Oorang]

Shin Bet chief: 'At least 10 tunnels being dug in Gaza'
02.05.07

"Terror organizations are digging tunnels from Gaza towards Israel with the intention of carrying out attacks against IDF forces in the communities adjacent to the border," said Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin at a press briefing on Monday afternoon. "At the moment there are at least 10 tunnels being dug, in varying stages of progress."

Diskin called the Gaza-Egyptian border "one big rabbit's tunnel' and stated that in 2006 terror groups smuggled some 28 tons of standard-grade explosives into Gaza, this compared with an estimated 6 tons of explosives in 2005.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3361278,00.html">

French Police Arrest 13 Turkish Kurds on Terrorism Financing Charges
05 February 2007

Authorities in France say they have arrested 13 Turkish Kurds on suspicion of helping to finance terrorism. Police say the Kurds are suspected of involvement in a money laundering network that funds the militant Kurdistan Workers Party, also known by the initials PKK. Turkey, the United States and the European Union classify the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Police say Monday's arrests in the suburbs of the capital are part of an investigation that began last July when two Kurds were arrested in Paris trying to exchange 200,000 euros (about $260,000) in cash into other currencies.

Excerpted

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-02-05-voa11.cfm?rss=europe

[Oorang]

American Becomes A Target Of Terror Threats
Jeremy Reynalds - 2/5/2007

A writer on a radical Islamic Internet forum is suggesting I should have my "neck struck" for what he calls my "witch hunt" against Muslims.

His anger against me follows last week’s raid by Britain’s anti-terror police on a number of addresses close to Birmingham, England. British media reported (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2214867.ece), "It is understood that a terror gang was close to enacting plans to seize their victim, a lance corporal who fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and then post footage of his ‘Kenneth Bigley-style’ execution on the Internet."

The forum participant wrote in part ("http://muntadaa.aswj.net//index.php?showtopic=5378),"If you look who these people are ... you see the name Jeremy pathetic Reynalds come into play. (He) has launched a witch hunt on Muslims for years like Blair and Bush. The false police case against brothers in Birmingham is based on false reports by this and other researchers and kuffar (non-Muslim) media ... If it was allowed under the Shariah (Islamic) law, (Reynalds and others like him) should have (their) neck struck for attacking Muslims. This evil kuffar Reynalds should be first in line."

The individual continued, "Islam is a faith that does not allow us to attack anyone for (any) reason, but the attacks by Reynalds and Vigil against the sheikh and other brothers are coming close to a call for action against this evil Christian. May Allah strike him dead!"

Excerpted

http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=2466&cid=11&sid=61

Terrorism And The Enemy in the Chair
Dominic Whiteman - 2/6/2007

Vigil’s terror trackers are constantly wading through extremist chat rooms, searching for drop email accounts, hidden message boards built into websites, which vary from innocent clothing sites to hardcore pornographic sites, studying extremist literature and wading through other detritus which extremists and terrorists use to further their pointless causes.

Much of this work is taxing on the brain. When you really come to think about the extremists and terrorists, life can get very depressing – but it is work that has to be done. (The fact is that physically attending their demonstrations, closed meetings and other occasions to rant is a far more draining mental experience than this mere online work).

VIGIL tries to keep its trackers au fait with what the enemy might be thinking. To do this, VIGIL’s strategic committee works out likely terror/extremist plots for itself and then thinks laterally to initiate likely counter strategy.

Excerpted

http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=2470&cid=11&sid=63

[Cindy]

Yes, I got this original submission yesterday from Jeremy Reynalds.
Thank you for your posts Oorang and I'll add this to it.

===
===

January 4, 2007

(Note: The links are reformatted on FR to make them clickable.)
Note: The following text is a quote:

Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D.
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

Joy Junction Director Again Target of Death Threat on Radical Islamic Internet Site

A writer on a radical Islamic Internet forum is suggesting I should have my "neck struck" for what he calls my "witch hunt" against Muslims.

His anger against me follows last week’s raid by Britain’s anti-terror police on a number of addresses close to Birmingham, England. British media reported (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2214867.ece ), "It is understood that a terror gang was close to enacting plans to seize their victim, a lance corporal who fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and then post footage of his ‘Kenneth Bigley-style’ execution on the Internet."

The forum participant wrote in part (http://muntadaa.aswj.net//index.php?showtopic=5378 ),"If you look who these people are ... you see the name Jeremy pathetic Reynalds come into play. (He) has launched a witch hunt on Muslims for years like Blair and Bush. The false police case against brothers in Birmingham is based on false reports by this and other researchers and kuffar (non-Muslim) media ... If it was allowed under the Shariah (Islamic) law, (Reynalds and others like him) should have (their) neck struck for attacking Muslims. This evil kuffar Reynalds should be first in line."

The individual continued, "Islam is a faith that does not allow us to attack anyone for (any) reason, but the attacks by Reynalds and Vigil against the sheikh and other brothers are coming close to a call for action against this evil Christian. May Allah strike him dead!"

I’m not surprised by this sort of rhetoric, and while I take it seriously, it doesn’t intimidate me. A couple of years ago I was the subject of another death threat when after getting an Islamic "snuff video" website removed from the Internet, Islamists posted my home address with a wish that I would be "visited" and my ribs broken.

Another writer offered prayers to Allah that my "fatty neck" would be delivered to them, a reference to Islamists’ common method of decapitation (http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42757 ).

In this current diatribe, the writer also associated me with Vigil, an anti-terror organization about which I have written several articles. What is Vigil? The organization’s web site (www.vigilnetwork.com) describes itself as "a private, international anti-terror network – aiming to disrupt terrorist activity and silence those extremists who, wittingly or unwittingly, act as a conveyor belt progressing future terrorists." For the record, I am proud to help them out a little.

Islam: A Religion of Peace?

So is Islam a religion of peace? Some would claim it is, and moderators of the site containing the threat against me have written (http://muntadaa.aswj.net//index.php?act=boardrules ) "Advocating violence or inciting terrorism against innocent people is not permitted at all. Those who are found doing this will be warned and may even face being banned."

However, site administrators seem very lax about enforcing their own rules, unless like many of our current laws against terrorist activities in the United States they are designed more for cosmetic effect than anything else.

Here are a couple of posts on the Muntada site. A link to http://moderatesrefuted.blogspot.com/ from http://muntadaa.aswj.net//index.php?showtopic=5004 and titled, "Is Islam a Religion of Peace? reads, "‘Islam means Peace!’ ‘Islam is a religion of peace.’ These are the words we hear constantly uttered by the moderate Muslims, who are quick to jump atop operations carried out by the Mujaheedin. So, here I ask: ‘Is Islam a religion of peace? No it is not, Allah ... clearly tells us to fight the kuffar till Islam is dominant and the kuffar have both stopped occupying our land and are paying Jizyah (a tax on non-Muslim adult males: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya ).

The writer continued, "Allah also commands the believers to terrorize the enemies of Islam, and strike utmost fear into their hearts." And a document available on the Muntada website sounded far from peaceful. It read in part, (http://muntadaa.aswj.net//index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=204 ), "Muslims believe that Islam is a superior ideology able to resolve all of the many problems which mankind faces today, from the economic to the social, from international relations to the ecological."

Speaking about life under Islamic rule, a terrifying possibility to consider, the writer continued, "If (that law) was indeed implemented in Britain let us have no doubts that Britain would look very different to what it does today ... The sale of alcohol or pork would be prohibited, gambling would be outlawed ... There would be no pubs for example, and night-clubs, porn shops or other places of entertainment between men and women, encouraging promiscuity and sexual deviancy (such as homosexuality) will be banned. Both men and women will be required to cover themselves properly in public – with women wearing the Khimar and Jilbab (head scarf and long barrel shaped dress), and men covering at least from the navel to the knees at all times ... Judges would roam the streets and markets accompanied by police to implement and maintain the Islamic public order ... The Islamic judicial system would be implemented where adulterers would be stoned to death and thieves would have their ha nds cut. There would be no jury service or solicitors or barristers – rather judges qualified in Islamic Law would preside over all cases and judge according to God’s law."

My Feelings about Muslims

Some may be wondering what I feel about Muslims and the Islamic faith. At its core I believe that Islam is a religion of violence and Islamic radicals when reading the Koran are just taking what they read at face value and acting accordingly.

However, I care for individual Muslims deeply and pray that they may find the forgiveness which Jesus Christ is waiting to offer them. Additionally, I know that there are many wonderful, caring Muslims who would never even think of committing an act of violence. Just like the peace-loving Palestinian Muslims in Bethlehem whom I visited a couple of months ago thousands of Muslims worldwide are asking a simple question, "When will the violence stop?" That’s a question all of us would do well to consider.

[Oorang]

Sheikh Mubarak Gilani Forms Terrorist Compounds Inside United States

In one of the most callous displays of indecency toward the victims of 9/11, Charlotte County, Virginia has a road sign named after an international terrorist, called “Sheikh Gilani Lane.”

Charlotte County is a rural farming community in Central Virginia near the North Carolina border. It is peppered with hills, trees and farmland and populated by some of the most patriotic citizens in the country. Furthermore, Charlotte County can proudly say that it is the home of one of America’s most beloved founding fathers, Patrick Henry, who is best remembered for his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech.

Now, regrettably, Charlotte County is also known for being the only community in the United States that has a road sign named after an international terrorist.

Excerpted

http://www.christianaction.org/sheikh_gilani_runs_terrorist_compounds_in_america.htm

[Oorang]

U.S. Embassy Warns of Terror Threat Against Westerners in Sudan
Monday, February 05, 2007

KHARTOUM, Sudan — The U.S. Embassy warned Americans on Monday of a heightened terrorist threat against Westerners in Sudan. "The U.S. Embassy advises all U.S. citizens in Sudan that the United Nations mission in Sudan has received new information that an extremist group based in the country is likely to target Western interests," it said.

The U.S. message followed a similar warning that the United Nations sent its staff in Sudan last week, said a U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with journalists.

The U.S. message warned of the danger of bombings, kidnappings and assassinations. It said the primary target of the threat might be the United Nations, but added that "terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets."

Excerpted

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250399,00.html?sPage=fnc.specialsections/waronterror

[Cindy]

That's interesting Oorang.
Thank you.

From the article you pointed to, here's one of the photo captions:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777773/posts?page=285#285

"Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, founder of Jamaat al-Fuqra and Muslims of America."

===
===

ON THE NET...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Jamaat+al-Fuqra%22&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3426

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/terroristoutfits/jamaat-ul-fuqra.htm

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=jamaatalfuqra

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&client=news&q=%22Jamaat+al-Fuqra%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&scoring=d

[Cindy]

NOTE: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1779780/posts


Muslim Mau-Mauing
City Journal ^ | 4 February, 2007 | Rod Dreher

Posted on 02/05/2007 5:16:28 PM PST by TADSLOS

Two years after standing on the Brooklyn Bridge and watching the second tower fall, I joined the Dallas Morning News. My wife, a native Dallasite, praises our new city as “a September 10 kind of place.” She means that the anxieties attending our post-9/11 New York life simply don’t exist here. The downside is that people lull themselves into a false sense of security about the Muslim community. From where I sit, it looks to me as though the entire mainstream media also live in a September 10 kind of place. We—and I say “we” because I’m part of the dreaded MSM—really don’t want to know what’s happening among Muslims in Dallas, Brooklyn, or anywhere else.


Dallas is home to a large and relatively prosperous Muslim community. The Dallas Central Mosque is Texas’s largest. The area’s Muslims, though, have had a contentious relationship in recent years with the Dallas Morning News, mostly because of the paper’s groundbreaking 2001 reporting on the Holy Land Foundation, whose leadership is now under federal terrorism indictment. Since then, local Muslim leaders have engaged in a running dialogue with the News, with the declared aim of improving relations.


(Read more at the link)

(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...

[Oorang]

Tenn. man pleads guilty to possessing ricin, explosives in plea deal
Feb. 5, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Nashville man pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of possessing the deadly poison ricin along with firearms silencers and explosives under a plea deal with prosecutors to spare himself from life in prison.

Neither William Matthews nor the authorities explained why the 56-year-old had the poison.

Matthews was charged after a tip from his estranged wife led police and federal agents to search his property May 31. They found the ricin in a sealed baby jar, two functional pipe bombs, five gun silencers, three blasting caps and bomb-making materials.

Excerpted

http://www.courttv.com/news/2007/0205/matthews_ap.html

[Oorang]

Police Search For Explosives In Federal Way Apartment (WA)
UPDATED: 5:30 pm PST February 5, 2007

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- According to Federal Way police they are assisting Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials on a federal warrant at the Glen Park apartment complex in Federal Way.

The complex has been evacuated while officials search for suspected explosives and bomb-making equipment, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported. The Federal Way bomb squad is at the scene.

One person has been arrested, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/10937064/detail.html

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iran

---

Thanks to Calpernia for the ping to this thread and article:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1779664/posts

"Iran said to assemble two uranium units"
Meadow Free Press ^ | 2/5/07 | GEORGE JAHN ap

Posted on 02/05/2007 2:23:24 PM PST by mdittmar

VIENNA, Austria

[Cindy]

A few more details UPDATE:

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_020507WABfedwayexplosivesKC.555347a5.html

"Soldier arrested; military explosives found"
06:36 PM PST on Monday, February 5, 2007
KING5.com

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Military and federal agents have arrested a Fort Lewis soldier at a Federal Way apartment complex following an explosives investigation.

After obtaining a search warrant, agents went into the apartment and removed explosives, fire arms and ammunition – all issued by the military – from an apartment occupied by a Fort Lewis solder."

[Cindy]

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015138.php
(ITV NEWS)


February 05, 2007

"'He who joins the British Army, the American Army, he is a mortal kaffir and his only hukum (punishment) is for his head to be removed'"

===
===

stepping back in time...

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/013210.php
(TIMESONLINE.co.uk)


September 20, 2006

"UK Home Secretary Reid jeered during speech to Muslims"

[Cindy]

Note: The following post and translation is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1779892/posts


N. Korea: 120 Prisoners Escaped from a Gulag (Real life Stalag-17)
The Daily NK ^ | 02/05/07 | Kim Young-jin, Shin Ju-hyun

Posted on 02/05/2007 9:03:22 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster

/begin my excerpt


N. Korea: 120 Prisoners Escaped from a Gulag

[sourced from 3 informants inside N. Korea] from 'Camp No. 16' at Hwasung, N. Korea..."very unusual development"

02/05/07

120 prisoners escaped en masse from 'Camp No. 16' at Hwasung, N. Hamkyong Province, which is a labor camp for political prisoners. This is an extraordinary event which prompted N. Korean authorities to mobilize State Security Dept., Public Security Ministry (police), and military to hunt down escapes, according to multiple sources inside N. Korea.

Inside sources from Chongjin, N. Hamkyong Province, revealed on Feb. 1 and Feb. 5, "On Dec. 20 of last year, 120 prisoners from a camp at Hwasung County escaped, leading to high alert at State Security Dept. and police. Currently, many extra checkpoints are set up in N. Hamkyong Province, checking travel pass for vehicles and travelers."

N. Korean labor camps for prisoners are ringed with layers of obstacles, and residents in surrounding villages are drilled to their head to report any escapees and escapees face brutal punishment, all of which make escape nearly impossible. It is quite unusual to have mass escape like this.

One source said, "An acquaintance, who is a security official at provincial security dept., told me that political prisoners jumped from Hwasung camp. The escapees are said to number over 120."

The sources said that there was significant outside help. Escapees used large steel saw provided from outside to cut (barbed) wire fences, and neutralized camp guards with clubs.

They said, "The outsiders not only provided steel saw but also escape get-away vehicle(s.) Most of escapees are those who once attempted to go to S. Korea from China, but (got caught) and repatriated to N. Korea, and sent to the camp.

According to those who were once in such a camp, N. Korea's camp for political prisoners are different from an ordinary prison. It is located in the remote mountain area, and resembles like a village. Its area is as large as a few villages put together. To prevent escape, it is surrounded with wire fences at 2~3 meter high. There are guard towers and guards are on watch for 24 hours.

In addition to guards, there are 'search squads' around a camp, and people in its neighborhood are given awards for turning in escapees.

The escape was successful this time because escapees were able to quickly get out of the camp's vicinity using get-away vehicle(s) along with other outside help.

21 escapees were said to be caught during house-to-house search afterwards.

/snip

[Yanji, China = Kim Young-jin, Shin Ju-hyun]

[Cindy]

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1779925/posts


Gunmen kidnap Iranian diplomat in Baghdad
Reuters (excerpt) ^ | February 6, 2007

Posted on 02/06/2007 1:09:49 AM PST by HAL9000

BAGHDAD, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped a senior Iranian diplomat in Baghdad on Sunday, an Iraqi government official said on Tuesday.

"We are dealing with this as a kidnapping," the official told Reuters. The official said the diplomat, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, was snatched in the central Karrada district by 30 gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777773/posts?page=46#46

---

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1779926/posts

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=181301

"Suspects filmed chaotic response"
By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 - Updated: 03:52 AM EST

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The bomb hoax bozos whose light-up devices sparked a Boston terror panic were caught on camera standing with spectators and filming the massive police response, the Herald has learned.
Boston bomb scares:

Transit police surveillance photos taken at the Sullivan Square MBTA Orange Line station as police swarmed around one of the suspicious devices Wednesday morning clearly show the two men, sources said.

Peter Berdovsky, 28, was photographed holding a video camera filming the police response, including the transit bomb squad cop blowing up the device at 10:21 a.m. His prankster partner Sean Stevens, 27, stood alongside him."


ARTICLE SNIPPET #2:“The pictures show they were very interested in the whole scene. They had a decent camera with a telephoto lens. They were very carefully noting everything that was going on,” said one source who had seen the images."

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=INDIA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=RDX

http://www.satp.org
http://www.saag.org

===
===


Note: The following text is a quote:


http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015127.php

February 05, 2007

Jihad attack averted in India

Shootout in New Delhi. "4 Jaish militants arrested in Delhi," from ibnlive.com, with thanks to C.:

New Delhi: The Capital had a tryst with terror late on Sunday night as four Jaish-e-Mohammed militants were arrested from ITO after a gunbattle with the police.
Besides three kilograms of RDX, six hand grenades, four detonators, one timer, $10,000 and Rs 50,000 were recovered from them.

The police were tipped off that the militants—one Pakistani and three Kashmiris— would be coming to the Ranjit Singh Flyover stretching from Barakhamba Road to Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg.

When the Jaish militants arrived at the stipulated place, they were challenged by the police. What followed was a 25-minute gunbattle in which the police and militants exchanged 50 rounds of firing. No one is reported to have been injured.

Posted by Robert at February 5, 2007 06:03 AM

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nuclear

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=northkorea
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nkorea

===
===

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070205-103613-9531r.htm

"U.S. calls for end to 'nuclear business'"
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
February 6, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The top U.S. negotiator on North Korea said yesterday that Pyongyang must abandon its nuclear-weapons programs if it hopes to see the economic and energy aid promised in a September 2005 deal to resolve the Korean nuclear crisis.

With another round of multilateral talks set to begin in Beijing on Thursday, State Department envoy Christopher Hill dismissed a possible diplomatic feeler from the North offering to re-create the 1994 deal with the Clinton administration in which Pyongyang merely "suspended" its nuclear programs in exchange for massive energy subsidies.

North Korea "must get out of the nuclear business entirely," Mr. Hill told reporters in Tokyo yesterday en route to the Chinese capital."

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=terroristfinancing

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=wot
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=waronterror

===
===


http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26795

"The Banking Front"
By Bill Steigerwald
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 6, 2007

"Global Financial Warriors: The Untold Story of International Finance in the Post 9/11
By John B. Taylor (W.W. Norton)."

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07020027.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com


Monday, February 5, 2007

Four Americans Attending Christian Health Conference Attacked In India

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

RAIPUR, INDIA (ANS) -- Two weeks after the Himachal Pradesh state government passed an anti-conversion bill, two Christian institutions have already faced harassment by Hindu fundamentalists.
Four American tourists and a local couple were attacked at a Christian conference by Hindu extremists on February 2 in Pandri in Raipur, the capital city of Chattisgarh State in India.

According to Salem Voice Ministries News Service, a number of pastors, evangelists, health and educational trainees and volunteers from different parts of India were attending the conference. The conference was discussing the quick response to HIV/Aids and the propagation of health and hygiene solutions leading to a holy life among the villagers. Dr. Victor Choudheri, the former professor of the Ludhiana Medical College, organized the conference.

The alleged attack took place on Friday afternoon, after the lunch break, when the meeting convened again and a mob of Hindu radicals crowded into the meeting and attacked the participants without any provocation.

Four Amercian tourists, interested in listening to the classes about Indian villages and their health and hygiene problems, were allegedly assaulted and looted by unidentified youths "for (being) involved in religious conversion," police said on Saturday.

According to the complaint filed against the attackers at the Moa Police station in Pandri, Lodi Para, Raipur by Pastor Harish Patel and Sewa Sing, the Hindu extremists, who were carrying "Jai Sriram" slogans, dragged the foreigners a distance of 1 Km and then beat them. The attackers took away their two laptops, digital cameras, mobile phones and Rs.5000 in cash.

A young local Christian man, Sakha Ram, was brutally beaten and suffered injuries all across his body. Several women were also mishandled by the attackers, SVM News Service reported.

The agency says the extremists accused the gathering of being involved in conversion activities, and damaged some property before escaping with the costly equipment.

Rev. Paul Ciniraj, Chairman of the Christian Ministers of the Churches in India (CMCI) and the Director of the Salem Voice Ministries, condemned the attack on the Christian educational health conference.

The State government of Chattisgarh and the Central government of India quickly took action against the attackers. The American tourists said they were interested in learning more about the Indian culture and enjoyed spending time with Indian nationals, he said.

Following the incident, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi demanded the arrest of those responsible for the incident. A delegation from Christian community called on Jogi on Saturday. Jogi spoke to B.S. Maravi, the Superindent of Police of Raipur and asked him take steps to prohibit such incidents in future.


Further information, contact
Rev. Paul Ciniraj
Salem Voice Ministries,
Devalokam (P.O), Kottayam,
Kerala-686038, India.
http://salemvoice.org
** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
Send this story to a friend.