MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

Charisma News – “Four attacks within the last three weeks in Niger have raised the specter of a growing Islamist threat in the country.

In the latest attack on Tuesday, unidentified armed men attacked a paramilitary barracks on the outskirts of Niamey, the capital.

At the time of writing, Niger authorities have not made any announcement, but local media say there were no casualties and the attackers managed to flee.

On May 23, two suicide attacks in the north of the country targeted a military base in Agadez and a French-run uranium mine in Arlit, respectively.

The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion (two Islamist groups active in Mali) claimed responsibility for the attacks, which left 36 dead—most of them soldiers—and threatened further violence.

Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said the insurgents came from neighbouring southern Libya.

On June 1, more than 20 prisoners escaped from the main detention center in Niamey, the capital, following an attack that Niger authorities attributed to members of Boko Haram, an Islamist sect operating in neighbouring Nigeria.

Among the escapees was Malian-born Cheïbane Ould Hama, a suspected Islamist leader serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of four Saudis in 2009. Hama is known for his involvement in the assassination of William Bultemeier, a U.S. military liaison officer, in Niamey in December 2000 and the kidnap of Canadian-born U.N. diplomat Robert Fowler in Niger in 2009.

The recent attacks have come in the middle of the French troop withdrawal from Mali, four months after recapturing northern cities Timbuktu and Gao from Islamist insurgents.

The French-led military intervention enabled them to dismantle the militants’ main base in the Ifoghas Mountains in northeastern Mali, near the Algeria border.

A French army spokesman in Mali told media that more than 400 jihadists have been killed and 100 captured since the beginning of the operation in January. An undetermined number of militants have fled to southern Libya via Algeria and Niger, he said.

Local sources say the upsurge in attacks has set a climate of fear in Niamey. Authorities have reinforced security across the capital, with checkpoints near strategic offices and areas around Western embassies.

‘The militants’ activity is a global threat that goes beyond Niger,’ Reverend Kimso Boureima, president of the Alliance of Missions and Evangelical Churches in Niger, told World Watch Monitor.” Read more.

All Christian News – “According to reports, another Christian woman has been imprisoned recently in Somalia, where Sunni Islam is the official religion and where there is a widespread assumption that all Somalis are born Muslims.

Reports say that she has been beaten, questioned and tortured by Somali authorities and the authorities say that they will keep her in prison for three months.

Fatima’s exact location is not known, and she is not allowed to use her cell phone or have any contact with anyone outside the prison.

Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991, has been experiencing continuous conflict, especially with Christians, for more than 10 years, and is reportedly the most corrupt country in the world.

With Sunni Islam being the official religion of Somalia and no official religious freedom allowed, if you’re not Muslim then you’re likely to be a target for violent attacks.

According to reports 99.7 percent of the population of Somalia, around 8 million, are Muslims with 0.3 percent being Christian.

Somali Christians have to go underground and worship in secret because Islamic radical groups, like the al-Shabab group, have openly stated that they will rid Somalia of all Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Muslims Gather To Watch Convert To Christianity Beheaded By Al-Shabaab Islamists – “Islamic extremists from Somalia’s rebel Al-Shabaab militants on Friday (Nov. 16) killed a Christian in Somalia’s coastal city of Barawa, accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose after monitoring his movements for six months, Christian sources said… A crowd assembled in the coastal city on Friday morning to watch the slaughter of Mose…” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Islamists Again Behead Another for Leaving Islam and Converting to Christianity – “Hungry minority Christians in Somalia faced another struggle Sunday, September 18, after suspected Islamic militants beheaded a Christian convert and foreign aid workers were banned from reaching a dying population. Somali Christians and human rights activists confirmed that the body of Juma Nuradin Kamil, a kidnapped Christian who converted from Islam, was found decapitated near the southern town of Hudur on September 2.” Read more.

Flashback: Al-Shabaab Vows To Continue Killing Those Who Do Not Worship Allah – “Somalia militia group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s twin attacks on two churches in Garissa County that left 17 people dead… An Al-Shabaab loyalist Sheikh Hassan Takar said that the militia killed people who did not profess allegiance to Allah. ‘The mujahedeen (holy warriors) punished with their hands those believing and worshipping other than Allah,’ he said. ‘The militants will continue until such practice is eliminated.’ He added” Read more.

The Voice of the Martyrs – “The persecution of Christians in Tanzania continues. Two pastors have recently been attacked, and the police are doing little about it.

On the night of Sunday, June 2, a large group of radical Muslims attacked the home of pastor Robert Ngai in Geita town, northeastern Tanzania. The attackers broke into the home and attacked Pastor Ngai with machetes. The pastor received serious cuts on his hands and arms when he raised his arms to protect his head from the blows. Doctors at the local hospital said the injuries were beyond their ability to treat and urged that he be rushed to a hospital in a nearby, larger city for treatment.

Ngai is the pastor of the Evangelical Assemblies of God Church. At last word from Voice of the Martyr contacts, he was still in the intensive care unit. Geita town is less than 50 miles from Buseresere, the city where Pastor Mathayo Kachili was killed by radical Muslims in February. Kachili’s story, and that of his widow, Generosa, is featured in Voice of the Martyr’s June newsletter.

Two nights before the attack on Pastor Ngai, the home of Pastor Daudi Nzumbi in Geita also came under attack. Pastor Nzumbi leads the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania congregation in Geita.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Christian Pastor Beheaded By Angry Muslim Mob Demanding That All Christian-Owned Meat Shops Be Closed – “A PASTOR with the Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) Church at Buseresere has been beheaded during religious-linked conflicts at Buseresere town, in Geita Region. A spokesperson for the Geita Regional Police Commander’s Office, Mr Denis Stephano, identified the deceased pastor as Mathayo Kachili. He said conflicts had been boiling for quite a while now in the area where a section of what are believed to be Muslim leaders had demanded immediate closure of butcheries owned by Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Mob Of Islamists Destroy Dozens Of Churches, ‘We Want The Heads Of All The Church Pastors’ – “Dozens of Christian worship places have been destroyed by Islamic extremists in Tanzania and church leaders are fleeing its heavily Muslim island of Zanzibar, as the persecution of Christians spreads throughout East Africa… a mob of Muslim protestors carrying clubs, swords and machetes invaded two churches shouting ‘We want the head of Bishop Shayo’ … When they failed to break into the church, the mob moved on to the Anglican church of Reverend Emmanuel Masoud where the crowd broke windows and were seen hacking at the doors while chanting: ‘We need the head of Masoud!’ and We want the heads of all the church pastors in Zanzibar!’” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Prepare For Disaster’: Islamists In Tanzania And Kenya Threaten To Destroy Christian Homes And Churches – “Christians and their churches here in Tanzania and Kenya are on alert this Easter weekend in anticipation of potential attacks against them. Many have armed police guarding their buildings. A militant Islamic group known as Muslim Renewal has threatened to burn ‘homes and churches.’ They say they ‘are not finished, at Easter, prepare for disaster.’ The Al Shabaab-linked group is believed responsible for the murder in Zanzibar last month of Catholic priest, Father Evarest Mushi. It may also have been involved in the killing of Pastor Abdi Welli in Garissa, Kenya. Militant Muslims have killed church leaders and they’ve attacked more than 30 churches in Tanzania and Kenya in the past year.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Christians Increasingly Worried As Islamism Spreads At Alarming Rate, Seeks To Impose Sharia Law Upon All – “Islamisation is increasing at an alarming rate in Tanzania, according to a bishop from the country. Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa of Kondoa warned that religious freedom and other civil liberties were under threat from intolerant radical Muslim influences sweeping in from countries neighbouring the east African nation… ‘We see more and more itinerant preachers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan entering this country – and Muslims are increasingly making political demands.’” Read more.

For peaceful purposes …

By Raymond Ibrahim – “Two weeks ago in Egypt, a Coptic Christian man named Milad living in Tanta in northern Egypt submitted a formal complaint to authorities, saying that ‘unknown persons’ invited him and his family to renounce Christianity and submit to Islam and convert.  ‘They also snatched at the crucifix he was wearing around his neck, and threatened to kidnap his children and wife if he refused to convert to Islam.’  The man identified them as members of the Salafi movement in Egypt—as they wore the trademark white robes and long beards.

Such incidents—threatening Coptic Christians to convert to Islam and kidnapping their children—are becoming commonplace in post ‘Arab Spring’ Egypt.  Some months back, Coptic priests were threatened with death if they did not convert to Islam, and the jihad on Egypt’s Christian children is an ongoing phenomenon, most recently resulting in the abduction and slaying of a 6-year-old boy.” Source – Raymond Ibrahim.

Flashback: New Egyptian Terror Group To Christian Leaders: Convert To Islam Or Face Death – “A group of Christian priests from a local Coptic church in Egypt were told to convert to Islam or face death, according to an Arabic news site. The incident, which comes in the midst of continued persecution and pressure on Egypt’s Christian community, took place this week in the town of Safaga, near the Red Sea, the El Balad site reported. According to El Balad, the threats are from a new group in Egypt, Jihad al-Kufr, whose name translates to Jihad against non-believers or non-Muslims. The group targets non-Muslims, and reportedly pressures them to convert to Islam.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Attacks Against Christians Under Way In Northern Egypt After Call To Murder All Who Refuse To Convert To Islam – “Christian Copts in Upper Egypt are under attack, hours after a call for their eradication appeared in the form of leaflets calling on Muslims to kill Copts, specifically naming regions of Upper Egypt… Christians are being beaten, their stores destroyed, and their properties plundered. The attackers are declaring that ‘any Christian who dares to leave his house will be killed’; and the Copts are complaining that the police only arrive after the damage has been completely done… persecutors warned Christians from leaving their homes, promising death to whoever dared try. They said they did not want to see a single Christian in the street, which made many Christians lock themselves in.” Read more.

Egypt: Islamist Organizations Distribute Leaflets Calling For The Killing Of All Christians Who Will Not Convert To Islam – “According to today’s issue of El Fegr, ‘Elements of terrorist, jihadi organizations distributed leaflets today inciting for the killing of Copts in Suez, Ismailia, and Upper Egypt, promising them [Copts] a tragic end if they do not return to the truth.’ An image of a copy of the letter appears on El Fegr’s website. Titled ‘An Urgent and Important Notice,’ it begins by calling on ‘all brothers and sisters’ to ‘kill or physically attack the enemies of the religion of Allah—the Christians in all of Egypt’s provinces, the slaves of the Cross, Allah’s curse upon them…’ It proceeds to promise a monetary reward for whoever helps ‘achieve Allah’s rights against his enemies.’” Read more.