The Guardian reports that at least 21 people have been killed and more than 70 injured in Egypt in a bombing in Alexandria. The target was the Al-Oidseen Coptic church and was timed to detonate as worshippers left a new year.
It was initially thought a car bomb had caused the explosion but the interior ministry suggested a foreign-backed suicide bomber may have been responsible.
The governor of Alexandria, Adel Labib, accused al-Qaida of planning the bombing. "The al-Qaida organisation threatened to attack churches inside Egypt. This has nothing to do with sectarianism," he told state television. His assessment was shared by Kameel Sadeeq of the city's Coptic Christian council. "People went in to church to pray to God but ended up as scattered limbs, This massacre has al-Qaida written all over, the same pattern al-Qaida has adopted in other countries."
Senior health ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21 – a figure also
Nearly 1,000 Christians attended the mass at the church, according to a priest, Father Mena Adel. "I was inside the church and heard a huge explosion," he said. "People's bodies were in flames."
Security around churches has been stepped up in recent months with the authorities banning cars from parking directly outside them, after an al-Qaida-linked group in Iraq threatened the Egyptian church in November.
So 2011 begins with an act of utter evil. Sadly it will not be the last such act we see before we bid farewell to the year. Sometimes I wonder if the not-wife’s misanthropy is the best course. Perhaps the planet would be a far better place if the Yellowstone Caldera went up or a humungous meteor committed our species to the dustbin.
Despite this my thoughts are with those who were injured in this evil act and of course the families and loved ones of those murdered
11 comments:
So 2011 begins with an act of utter evil.
Yes.
Ugh.
SSDD. Are you familiar with that acronym?
Sadly so AOW - Same Shit, Different Day!
So senseless. And the mayhem will continue.
I wish it were not the case but I can't see 2011 being much better than 2010 in that respect
Makes one bleedin' despair (again)...
And again and again sadly
In the face of such barbarous savagery the temptation to despair is very strong.
Two things strike me:
1) After nearly 10 years, the so-called war on terror has been a complete failure; the western adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan serving only to fuel the flames of fanatical Islamicist terror.
2) Where are the millions of moderate Muslims, whose outrage at this perversion of their religion and sense of solidarity with the victims might be expected to have them protesting in the streets of Egypt and elsewhere? If moderate, "reasonable" Islam does not publicly and effectively start to claim the moral "high ground" for their interpretation of their religion, then it is not surprising (even if misguided) that Islam is seen by more and more people as a backward, savage belief and recipe for life.
!0 years of the war on terror have achieved little in my view Francis.
As for moderate Muslims, a large part of the solution lies in their hands. Nothing can curb the extremists better
I hope they can make a difference. They deserve a better life than they have. The arseholes of Fatah and Hamas will not give them anything but more shit.
For some reason I tend to disbelieve the "foreign-backed suicide bomber" crapola. Al Qaeda is a convenient scapegoat for people who want us to forget that A-Q is, in fact, a brand name for thousands of unconnected groups of fundies who plan their evil deeds alone.
Why should, for example, the Muslim Brotherhood gangs so powerful in Egypt need A-Q for anything?
Good point mon ami
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