Tag: Daesh

  • Today’s body count

    It’s 126 in Sanaa, Yemen. At two mosques, during prayers. Daesh says “we did that.”

    Suicide bombers have attacked two mosques in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, killing at least 126 people and wounding many others, reports say.

    Worshippers were attending noon prayers at the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques when at least four attackers struck.

    The mosques are used mainly by supporters of the Zaidi Shia-led Houthi rebel movement, which controls Sanaa.

    Islamic State (IS), which set up a branch in Yemen in November, said it was behind the attacks.

    Is it “Islamophobia” to point out that this is Muslims killing Muslims?

    Witnesses said two suicide bombers attacked the Badr mosque, in the south of Sanaa.

    One entered the building and detonated his explosive device among dozens of worshippers, the witnesses added. Survivors then sought to escape through the main gates, where the second bomber was waiting.

    Al Jazeera reported that the prominent Houthi cleric al-Murtada bin Zayd al-Mahatwari, the imam of the Badr mosque, was among those killed.

    Two more bombers attacked the al-Hashoosh mosque, in the north of the capital, with one detonating explosives near the entrance and the other running into the mosque itself.

    Lots of death. A big harvest of death. Major success in the body parts department.

    “The heads, legs and arms of the dead people were scattered on the floor of the mosque,” Mohammed al-Ansi told Associated Press news agency, adding that “blood is running like a river”.

    Mr Ansi said that many of those who were not killed by the explosion were seriously injured by shattered glass that fell from the mosque’s windows.

    More than 260 people are reported to have been injured.

    These were people at prayers, don’t forget.

    Welcome to the Ummah.

     

  • They make a lovely couple

    How sweet; the worst people in the world are joining forces. Daesh has accepted Boko Haram’s offer of allegiance. I’m sure that was a tense wait for Boko Haram, before the approval came through – would they be murderous and loathsome enough? But apparently Daesh has decided they have enough potential to be accepted.

    Islamic State (IS) has accepted a pledge of allegiance from Nigeria’s militant group Boko Haram, according to an audio message.

    In the tape, which has not been verified, an IS spokesman says the aim of establishing a caliphate has now been expanded to West Africa.

    Last week, Boko Haram posted a message saying it wanted to join ranks with IS.

    And then, shyly, it waited to hear.

    In the tape, a man – who describes himself as IS spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani – says: “We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa because the caliph… has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad.”

    The spokesman also urges Muslims to join militants in West Africa, rejecting suggestions that Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition have recently had a series of victories against IS in Iraq and Syria.

    …

    IS has forged links with other militant groups across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

    In November, Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi accepted pledges of allegiance from jihadists in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

    Maybe someday – and maybe soon – all of humanity will unite in a vision of death.

     

  • “To a soldier of the Khilafah preparing to sacrifice my life for Islam”

    An Australian teenager who converted to Islam and ran off to join Daesh apparently left behind a blog post explaining his wonderful reasons for his excellent adventure, the Guardian reports.

    The 18-year-old Australian reportedly killed in a suicide attack in Iraq on Wednesday had previously planned to launch “a string of bombings across Melbourne”, according to a blog seen by Guardian Australia.

    Melbourne teenager Jake Bilardi was reported on Monday to be fighting with the Islamic State militia group in Syria and Iraq.

    Social media accounts linked to the group posted photographs on Wednesday that appear to show Bilardi preparing to attack an Iraqi army unit in the Anbar province west of Baghdad.

    The images have not been verified, but reports from Iraq have claimed that 10 people had been killed and up to 30 injured in a wave of up to 21 suicide attacks on Wednesday.

    It’s good to have adventures at age 18. It’s possible to have adventures without murdering people.

    Guardian Australia has found a now-deleted blog written under Bilardi’s nom-de-guerre, Abu Abdullah al-Australi, which appears to provide a chilling insight into how a precocious young man became obsessed with political injustices and embraced violent extremism as the answer.

    The blog’s veracity could not be confirmed, but references to the writer’s age and origin in a non-Muslim family in Melbourne line up with reported accounts of the teenager’s life.

    The blog includes claims that before fleeing to Syria, the writer drew up plans to launch “a string of bombings across Melbourne, targeting foreign consulates and political/military targets as well as grenade and knife attacks on shopping centres and cafes”.

    Knife attacks – he was planning to kill people with a knife.

    The attacks would culminate “with myself detonating a belt of explosives amongst the kuffar”, he wrote.

    “The kuffar” – as one might say “the niggers” “the Jews” “the whores” “the dogs” “the vermin.” It’s an evil way to think.

    His blog has been deleted but here’s the cache. Look how he begins:

    With my martyrdom operation drawing closer, I want to tell you my story, how I came from being an Atheist school student in affluent Melbourne to a soldier of the Khilafah preparing to sacrifice my life for Islam in Ramadi, Iraq.

    See what he did there? It’s his life that he’s “sacrificing.” There’s no mention of the other people he plans to murder, no mention of their lives that he plans to “sacrifice” for Islam. That tells you all you need to know about him right at the beginning.