Egyptian Christians recall horror of Islamist bombing of church

TANTA, Egypt — Coptic Christian worshippers in Egypt spoke of horrific scenes on Sunday after a bomb ripped through their church during a service, mangling bodies and destroying pews.

“There was a violent explosion near the altar,” Edmon Edward told AFP.

“Suddenly everything became black, people flew over each other,” he said.

He had been attending Palm Sunday mass at the Mar Girgis church in Tanta with his brother Emil, who stood with a white bandage wrapped around his head, when the attack claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group happened.

The explosion killed at least 27 people, and was followed hours later by a second bombing at a church in Alexandria, which killed 17.

At the church in Tanta, icons of Christ and St George looked down on a tangle of destroyed pews and congealing blood on the floor tiles.

“I head the blast, and then I saw a woman run barefoot with her face oozing blood,” said a taxi driver who asked not to be identified.

In hospital, a wounded witness told state television: “I just felt fire grabbing my face. I pushed my brother who was sitting next to me and then I heard people saying: ‘explosion’.”

Nabil Nader, 65, who lives opposite the church, spoke of the attack’s aftermath and said the first three rows of pews in the church were destroyed.

“I heard the blast and came running. I found people torn up… some people, only half of their bodies remained,” he said.

“The father of a friend of my son was in the front row,” he said, his voice breaking with anguish. “We found only his shoe.”

Nearby, a man held up a burned prayer book and a traditional braided palm-leaf crucifix, stained with blood.

“They came to pray and they died,” he said.

“The victims were destroyed,” said Mohammed, a nursing student helping at the hospital were the victims of the attack were taken.

“Some are broken up inside. Some are completely burned,” he said.

‘Oh Lord, have mercy’
Police sirens wailed incessantly around the city as ambulances ferried victims to hospital.

Security forces cordoned off the church, but residents who gathered nearby were unable to hide their anger.

Despite the presence of metal detectors, the bomber was apparently able to enter the building without any hindrance.

“How was the bomb able to enter, while police” were outside the church, asked Nagat Assaad, holding back tears.

“What are the detectors for? We don’t want their protection.”

There were similar scenes in second city Alexandria after the attack there.

Several hours after the attack, a Coptic woman expressed her anger at police blocking access to the church.

“What’s the use of closing the street now? You should have done it before the explosion!” she said.

Dozens of Copts gathered near the scene, brandishing wooden crosses and chanting “Oh Lord, have mercy”.

Shards of glass littered the street and pavement outside the door where the suicide bomber activated his explosive belt.

Hussein, a salesman in a shop opposite the church who witnessed the Alexandria blast, said he was “blown over by the shockwave” and fell to the ground.

Egypt’s Copts, who have suffered repeated deadly jihadist attacks, say they feel abandoned and discriminated against by the authorities in the predominantly Muslim country.

But despite their fears, the Christians of Tanta said they are determined to defend their faith.

“We’re Christian and we will stay Christian,” one woman said in a defiant tone. CBB

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Two million Muslim pilgrims begin annual hajj

MECCA – Some two million pilgrims poured out of the Muslim holy city of Mecca on Sunday to begin the annual hajj, their numbers reduced on fears of the deadly MERS virus.

Saudi Health Minister Abdullah Al-Rabia told reporters late Saturday that authorities had so far detected no cases among the pilgrims of the virus which has killed 60 people worldwide, 51 of them in Saudi Arabia.

The pilgrims moved from Mecca to nearby Mina by road, by train or on foot, the men wearing the seamless two-piece white garment tradition requires, the women covered up except for their faces and hands.

In Mina, they will pray and rest before moving on to Mount Arafat on Monday for the climax of the pilgrimage rituals.

The recently constructed electric railway is scheduled to carry 400,000 of the pilgrims taking part in the world’s largest annual gathering.

Saudi Arabia has deployed more than 100,000 troops to ensure the safety of the pilgrims and has warned it will tolerate no demonstrations or disturbances.

The oil-rich kingdom has also mobilized huge medical and civil defence resources to ensure the smooth movement of the pilgrims, around 1.4 million of whom come from abroad.

That figure is sharply down on last year’s 1.75 million.

Riyadh has imposed a 20-percent cut this year on the quota for pilgrims coming from abroad.

It has also slashed the number of domestic pilgrims by half because of MERS virus fears and reduced capacity resulting from multi-billion-dollar construction work.

The fact that the kingdom accounts for the overwhelming majority of MERS cases reported around the world has raised concerns pilgrims could be infected and return to their homelands carrying the virus.

But the authorities have said they are optimistic the hajj will pass without incident, given Muslims also go on lesser pilgrimages at other times of the year and there has been no problem.

This year’s minor pilgrimage season, or umrah, during the fasting month of Ramadan in July-August, passed off without any MERS outbreak even though millions of Muslims took part.

Experts are struggling to understand the MERS coronavirus, for which there is still no vaccine.

It is considered a deadlier but less transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died, and sowed economic chaos.

Like SARS, it is believed to have jumped from animals to humans. It shares the former’s flu-like symptoms, but differs by also causing kidney failure.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Asian Muslims begin Ramadan, hardliners target ‘sinful’ bars

JAKARTA – Muslims in much of Asia began celebrating the holy month of Ramadan Wednesday, with hardliners in Indonesia vowing to raid “sinful” bars after police steamrollered a mountain of alcohol and porn.

Tens of millions across the Muslim world fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious and charitable during the month, which ends with the Eid holiday.

But Ramadan began in war-torn Afghanistan with a bomb blast, and there was tight security in parts of the southern Philippines after deadly clashes with Muslim rebels.

In Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population, hardliners use Ramadan as an excuse to attack nightspots and shops that openly sell alcohol, the consumption of which is against Islamic law.

There were fears the situation could be worse this year after a recent upsurge in attacks on religious minorities and non-mainstream Muslims.

Critics say hardliners such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) have been emboldened by the government’s failure to crack down on them and to prevent such attacks.

In the days before Ramadan, there were already reports that the FPI — who led protests that forced pop star Lady Gaga to cancel a concert in Jakarta last year — had started conducting such raids.

“We will take firm action against the circulation of alcohol, naked dancing and prostitution,” Habib Idrus Algadri, head of an FPI group in Depok district outside Jakarta, was quoted as saying in a local newspaper.

He was leading a group of FPI members who seized bottles of alcohol from a shop at the weekend.

Habib Salim Alatas, the head of the FPI’s Jakarta branch, told AFP that 50 members would be sent out to monitor nightspots in the capital every evening.

“We will send out groups of two to three wearing civilian clothes to spy on sinful activities like the drinking of alcohol taking place around Jakarta during the Ramadan holy month,” he said.

Authorities have also been making a show of cracking down on the illegal sale of alcohol.

At the weekend police in Jakarta used a steamroller to crush thousands of bottles of homemade alcohol that was being sold in places without licenses, as well as destroying pornographic and pirated DVDS.

For non-Muslims and others in Indonesia who drink alcohol, getting a beer during Ramadan can be a challenge as some bars only want to serve customers they know for fear of being targeted by hardline spies.

Some stop serving alcohol, while others try to keep hardliners away by putting blinds on their windows, serving drinks in mugs instead of glasses and asking customers to sneak in through side doors.

The start of Islam’s holiest month brought no let-up in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict, with three civilians killed and two others wounded in a Taliban roadside bombing in the southern province of Helmand, authorities said.

The interior ministry said that two dozen rebels had been killed in operations across the country over the past 24 hours.

In the Catholic-majority Philippines, there were was tight security at the start of Ramadan in southern Muslim-populated areas after weekend clashes between troops and Islamic rebels left eight dead.

Before Ramadan began, authorities ordered a halt in military operations against a rebel splinter group that is seeking to derail peace negotiations between the country’s largest Muslim guerrilla force and Manila.

In Malaysia people were looking forward to breaking their fast at markets in a country whose multiethnic make-up — it is Muslim-majority but has sizeable Chinese and Indian communities — is reflected in a vast and varied selection of food.

Ramadan begins when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. It has yet to start in some Asian countries with large Muslim populations, including Pakistan and India.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net