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| Iraq |
| Qaeda group says Christians "legitimate targets" |
| 2010-11-04 |
| [Al Arabiya] An Iraqi group linked to al-Qaeda declared Christians "legitimate targets" as a deadline expired for Egypt's Coptic church to free women allegedly held after converting to Islam, SITE monitors said Wednesday. The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said in an Internet statement its action was justified by the church's refusal to indicate the status of the women it said were being held captive in monasteries, the U.S.-based monitoring group said. "All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them," said the statement. Mohammedan Brotherhood reaction Egypt's Mohammedan Brotherhood urged the state to protect Christian places of worship after the threat against Egypt's Coptic church was issued by al-Qaeda. "The Mohammedan Brotherhood is stressing to all, and primarily Mohammedans, that the protection of holy places of all monotheistic religions is the mission of the majority of Mohammedans," the group said in a statement on its website late on Tuesday. "The Brothers reject all stupid threats against Christian places of worship in Egypt issued by anyone and under any pretext," the group said. "The Egyptian state and the Egyptian people must protect holy places of all worshippers of monotheistic religions," it added. Threats The ISI, which claimed the capturing of Christians in a Storied Baghdad church that ended Sunday with the killing of 46 worshippers in a rescue drama, had said that the attack was to seek the release of the alleged converts in Egypt. "Let these idolaters, and at their forefront, ...., know that the killing sword will not be lifted from the necks of their followers until they declare their innocence from what ... the Egyptian Church is doing," the ISI said in its latest statement. It also demanded that the Christians "show to the mujahedeen their seriousness to pressure this belligerent church to release the captive women from the prisons of their monasteries." The women, Camilia Shehata and Wafa Constantine, are the wives of Coptic priests whom Islamists have said were forcibly nabbed by the Coptic Church after they had willingly converted to Islam. Shehata disappeared for a few days in July, setting off Coptic protests. Police found her and escorted her back home, triggering protests by Islamists who said the church was detaining her after she converted to Islam. Footage of a woman claiming to be Shehata after converting to Islam surfaced on the Internet, firing up the protests. The Coptic Church says she was not the woman in the footage. Wafa Constantine also went missing, in 2004, reportedly after her husband refused to give her a divorce. She was temporarily sequestered at a convent as reports of her conversion were circulated. The two cases threatened the fragile sectarian balance of the country, where Copts make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80-million population and have been the target of sectarian attacks. An Egyptian security source told AFP that security around Coptic places of worship had been "discreetly reinforced with plainclothes police and patrols." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Like they already didn't know that? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-11-04 19:31 |
| #4 "Everyone's a legitimate target!" We're all infidels on this bus! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-11-04 19:00 |
| #3 Too confusing, they might as well just say it, "Everyone's a legitimate target!" |
| Posted by: Uleatch Dribble8106 2010-11-04 16:48 |
| #2 By AQ's reasoning, Muslims would also be legitimate targets. Ya really want that? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-11-04 11:52 |
| #1 Rivers of blood + destruction. * ION CHRISTIAN NEWS, TOPIX > CAN HOUSING KEEP CHRISTIANS IN MIDDLE EAST [Church-sponsored Purchase + Group Housing Projects = Christian-only/majority Settlements, espec for New Families]. * SAME > IRAQ CHURCH HORROW SPEEDS CHRISTIAN EXODUS, from Iraq + ME + various World Regions as due to the steady decline in SECULAR AUTHORITIES = NON-DENOMINATIONAL/MODERATES coupled wid RISE OF ISLAMIST/ISLAM-LED POLITICAL EXTREMISM. * SAME > CHRISTIANITY UNDER SIEGE, in ME, Muslim + Third Worlds as per ISLAMO-MUSLIM, ETHNIC NATIONALISM. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-11-04 00:19 |