Bomb Explodes by Pakistani Mosque

ISLAMABAD – A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a mosque inside a police compound in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 10 people in the latest attack by suspected Taliban militants waging war against the Pakistani government.

The Taliban have stepped up their campaign of violence since the military launched a major offensive in mid-October in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border. Friday's attack was the second in two weeks against a mosque used by Pakistan's security forces.

Most of the 10 people killed in the attack in the Lower Dir region were police leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, said the area's police chief, Feroze Khan.

The blast wounded another 28 people, also mostly police, said a local hospital official, Ghulam Mohammed.

Lower Dir is next to the Swat Valley, which Pakistani soldiers wrested from the Taliban earlier this year. But periodic attacks have continued in the area.

Militants have also staged attacks in Pakistan's heartland, many of them against the country's security forces.

A team of militants armed with guns, grenades and bombs raided a mosque near army headquarters outside of Islamabad on Dec. 4, killing 36 people.

WSJ

Deaths in Rawalpindi mosque attack

At least 26 people have been killed in an attack by armed men at a mosque in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Police said armed men stormed a mosque during prayers on Friday, following an explosion at a checkpoint near the city's military headquarters.

Pakistan's Geo TV reported a witness as saying armed men threw grenades into the mosque.

Rao Iqbal, the Rawalpindi police chief, said that at least 26 people have been killed and more than 30 wounded.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from the scene, said that the military had secured the area and that at least one helicopter was being used to search for the attackers.

"There were apparently eight attackers," he reported. "Three of them died and the others are supposed to be in the vicinity."

Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistani military spokesman, confirmed the attacks but said he had no details on casualties.

"There have been killings. Bodies are shifted to the hospital but we don't know exactly how many," he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

"It was an attack at a mosque in an area officers frequent."

The attack appeared to be the latest in a series to hit Pakistan in recent months as its military presses ahead with an offensive against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the country's northwest.

Al Jazeera

Oslo: Muslim students want to use gym hall for prayer, deans object

The Muslim Student Society asked to use a gym hall at Oslo university (Blindern) for half an hour every Friday for prayer, but the university administration is skeptic.

Deans Hans Petter Graver (Law) and Trygve Wyller (Theology) are critical of such use of common areas.

They want a principle debate on how you can meet the demands for exercising one's religion and at the same time protect the common, secular space, reports Uniforum, the university's newspaper.

There's an especially big influx into the university's prayer room for Muslims on Friday afternoon, when 40-80 Muslims come in to pray.

"That we are so many means that we must stand in line to pray in several rounds," says Bushra Ishaq, head of the Muslim Student Society at Oslo University.

"We humbly asked to use an aerobics hall for prayer for half an hour every Friday, and it amazes me that the deans are making such a big issue out of it," she says.

Ishaq thinks the Muslims' Friday prayer can't be compared to Christian Sunday mass, as dean Trygve Wyller claims.

"Islam enjoins us to pray Friday prayer, but this lasts at most 20 minutes," says Ishaq.

Dean Hans Petter Graver emphasizes that allowing Muslim students to conduct such a ceremony in such a visible place as the gym hall will alter the secular space, and so before allowing such a major change, they should have a principle discussion.

Source: Budstikka (Norwegian), h/t R

With thanks to Islam in Europe

Suicide bomber kills 12 in Iraq mosque

By Mujahid Mohammed

TWELVE worshippers were killed in an Iraqi mosque when a suicide bomber shot dead the prayer leader and then blew himself up in a town near the restive northern city of Mosul.

The attack targeted a Sunni Arab mosque in Tal Afar, a mostly Shi'ite Turkmen town in Nineveh province between the city of Mosul and the Syrian border.

It took place at around 12:30pm on the Muslim holy day of prayer and left 67 people wounded, police and medical officials said.

Witnesses and security officials said that after the mosque's imam began to speak, the attacker pulled out a gun and shot him, then set off a belt full of explosives as other worshippers tried to tackle him.

"As the imam took his place and began to speak, someone in a black jacket pulled out a gun and killed him, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest)," said Mohammed Othman, who suffered chest and head injuries in the blast.

"When the people went after him, he blew himself up," the man in his 40s said, speaking from Tal Afar hospital.

Salah Ahmed, a 49-year-old worker who was sitting outside the mosque when he heard the gunshots, said he ran to "try and see what was going on, but then the explosion happened. I woke up to find myself in the hospital."

Dr Hanni Mohammed at Tal Afar Hospital said the facility had received 12 dead bodies so far, and added that 67 people had been wounded, some of them taken to clinics close to the mosque.

"Some of the wounded have very serious injuries, and some of them are undergoing surgery," he said.

A local police officer confirmed the toll and added: "The bomber who blew himself up was among the worshippers inside the mosque as the imam was conducting Friday prayers. He shot the imam with a gun, and then blew himself up."

Imam Abdel Satar Hassan was a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni grouping that did not immediately comment on the attack.

All roads leading to the mosque were closed by security officials after the attack, while new checkpoints were erected and stringent searches were being carried out, the police officer said.

Nineveh province has been hit by several major attacks against smaller towns as well as bombings in Mosul, Wardak, Sinjar and Khaznah in recent months that have killed more than 100 people.

Source: The Australian

Bali bombers may go to Friday prayers

From correspondents in Cilacap, Indonesia | November 07, 2008

THREE condemned Bali bombers could be allowed out of their isolation cells for Friday prayers today after yet another opportunity for their executions passed.

A security build-up on the bombers' prison island in Central Java, and the rallying of supporters in the men's home towns and in Jakarta, had fuelled speculation that the men might have been executed overnight.

And yesterday the Detikcom news website said the bombers would be shot at 3am local time today (7am AEDT), but the hour passed without word from authorities.

The bombers have traditionally been allowed out of their cells for Friday prayers and may be afforded that opportunity again today.

It has been reported that Mukhlas, his younger brother Amrozi, and Imam Samudra have undergone final health checks in preparation for their executions.

And yesterday, all workers not directly employed at the bombers' prison on Nusakambangan Island were ordered to leave.

About 100 chanting militants descended on the offices of the national human rights body as the bombers' lawyers met officials inside to demand access for the families. The radicals condemned the executions and praised the bombers as "holy warriors". They carried banners pledging to follow the bombers' path of jihad or "holy war" and warning that "hell" awaits the executioners.

A total of 202 people, including 88 Australians, died in the bombings Mukhlas, Amrozi and Samudra helped carry out.

The Indonesian government has said only that the bombers will be put to death by firing squad in "early November". Terrorism experts have warned that the delay risks undermining the Indonesian government's credibility in the fight against terrorism.

"This slow execution is a sign the government is not being strict in combating terrorism and law enforcement in Indonesia," former Indonesian National Human Rights commissioner Sholahuddin Wahid said.

"If this execution is postponed again, the government's credibility will decrease."

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, of Singapore's International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, agreed.

"The government should be strong (and) carry out the executions. Not to do so would be a huge mistake ... it would be a big victory for the terrorists."

As time drags on, the security situation appears to be worsening.

In the past few days, there have been death threats against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as bomb threats against the Australian and US embassies in Jakarta.

The delay has also allowed dozens of religious extremists to gather in Tenggulun, the east Java village that was home to Amrozi and Mukhlas.

The bombers' supporters relished in the media attention yesterday, repeating their jihadist message to journalists. Around 20 radicals from a group headed by radical preacher Abu Bakar Bashir, who is linked to the Jemaah Islamiah group blamed for the Bali attacks, angrily denounced the executions and exhorted Muslims to "martyrdom".

Despite the lengthy preparations, the families have not received permission to pay a final visit to the bombers.

Rights body chairman Ifdhal Kasim said the prisoners had a right to meet their families before they faced the firing squad.

"A prisoner awaiting execution must be given a chance to meet their families," he said after meeting the defence lawyers, promising to take up the matter with prosecutors.

The bombers have said they want to die to become "martyrs" for their dream of creating an Islamic utopia across Southeast Asia.

Source:The Australian