Western embassies urge caution after Qatar church opening
Westerners in Qatar have been urged by their embassies to be extra vigilant after a militant website reportedly referred to the opening of the Muslim Gulf states first church.
The British Embassy in Qatar said the website flagged the opening on Friday of St Marys Roman Catholic church in Doha, the first of five to be built in the gas-rich state. The authorities are aware of this and are taking appropriate security measures, the embassy said on its website, without indicating what the unidentified militant website said. British citizens should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places... you should avoid large gatherings and demonstrations, it said.
In March 2005, a suicide bombing in Doha killed one Briton and wounded 12 people.
A shadowy militant group calling itself the Jund al-Sham Organisation (Organisation of Soldiers of the Levant) claimed responsibility for the attack in Internet statements, in which it also threatened strikes against oil facilities, churches and Western military bases in the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred 2008-03-16 |