Recently in suicide bombing Category

So as to dispel any illusions of societal stability or governmental power. "Suicide tanker truck targets house of army officer in northern Iraq, kills 3 people," from the Associated Press, May 11 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say that a suicide tanker truck packed with explosives blew up outside the home of an army intelligence officer, killing three people and wounding 18 others in the country's north.

Police officials say that the Saturday blast heavily damaged the house of Brig. Khalaf al-Jubouri in al-Shurqat, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Police said that al-Jubouri's son and nephew were among the dead, but the officer himself was not home at the time....

The jihadist detonated his explosives near a vehicle carrying an Islamic supremacist candidate -- someone with whom he probably agreed on most things. Except that the jihadist believed that Islam and democracy (including electioneering) were incompatible, and made his point with flair. "Suicide attack on candidate kills 12 in Pakistan," by Hussain Afzal for the Associated Press, May 7 (thanks to Kenneth):

PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a vehicle carrying a candidate from a hard-line Islamist party in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 12 people in the second attack on the party in as many days, police said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the Taliban took credit for an attack the day before on the same party, claiming it was targeting a candidate who had supported military operations against the militants in the northwest.

The blast Tuesday also wounded 35 people, but the candidate from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, Mufti Syed Janan, escaped unharmed, said police officer Haleem Khan. The attack occurred as Janan's convoy passed through a market in the town of Doaba in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Khan.

The Pakistani Taliban set off a bomb at a political rally held by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in the northwest Kurram tribal region on Monday, killing 25 people and wounding 70, said government official Javed Khan. The targeted candidate was not harmed.

The Taliban have carried out multiple attacks in the run-up to national elections scheduled for May 11. But most of the attacks have targeted secular parties that have opposed the militants and backed the army's attempt to clear them from their sanctuaries in the northwest.

Prior to the last two days' bombings, there was concern that the attacks could benefit parties that take a softer line toward the militants, like Jamiat Ulema -e-Islam, because their candidates are able to campaign more freely ahead of the vote.

But the Taliban have also condemned democracy as a whole, meaning that any political party taking part in the elections could be considered fair game by the militant group. Militants have called on people in many areas to stay away from the polls on election day.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party is considered supportive of the Afghan Taliban's fight against the United States and its allies in neighboring Afghanistan. It's also sympathetic to the Pakistani Taliban, which have been fighting Pakistani troops and would like to establish a hardline Islamic government in Pakistan. The group's leaders have generally opposed the Pakistani military's operations against the militants and instead called for negotiating with them.

But that hasn't made the group immune....

This is the group that Obama wants Israel to negotiate with. "Fatah calls suicide bomber 'Bride of Palestine,'" by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, April 9:

17 year-old Ayyat Al-Akhras became the youngest female Palestinian suicide bomber, when she killed 3 and wounded 28 Israelis in a suicide bombing near a Jerusalem supermarket on March 29, 2002. On the 11th anniversary of the attack, Fatah chose to glorify her as a hero for Palestinians, calling her the "Bride of Palestine" on Fatah's Facebook page. Part of Fatah's praise read: "11th anniversary March 29, 2013 Ayyat, we are committed to your promise We are committed to the promise of freedom, oh Bride of Palestine, Ayyat Al-Akhras." Fatah also chose to glorify Ahmed Masharqa, another suicide terrorist. In 2006, he dressed up as a religious Jew and hitchhiked to the Israeli town of Kedumim where he blew himself up inside the car that gave him a lift, killing 4 Israelis.

Part of Fatah's praise read:
"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - Fatah's military wing/ Southern region
Proudly announce the death of their hero Martyr Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Masharqa."

Palestinian Media Watch recently reported on glorification of Wafa Idris another female suicide bomber on Fatah's Facebook page.

Fatah has also used its Facebook page to glorify violence and terror.

The following are the pictures and words glorifying the suicide bombers on Fatah's Facebook page:

Page administrator:
"Tomorrow, Friday, March 29, 2013, will mark the 11th anniversary of the Martyrdom death of hero female Martyrdom-Seeker Ayyat Al-Akhras who carried out a Martyrdom-Seeking operation (i.e., suicide bombing) in occupied Jerusalem."

Caption on picture:
"And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision." (Quran, Sura 3:169, translation Sahih International)
"11th anniversary of Martyrdom-Seeker
Ayyat Al-Akhras' Martyrdom death."
[Fatah's Facebook page, March 28, 2013]

Page administrator:
"Today is the 11th anniversary of Ayyat Al-Akhras' Martyrdom death, resident of the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, 17 year-old who blew herself up in a shopping center in Jerusalem. In her operation, Ayyat - who should have worn a wedding dress - put on the Palestinian keffiyeh and army uniform."

Caption on picture:
"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades,
the military wing of the Fatah movement"
"Committed to the promise"
"Hero Martyrdom-Seeker, Ayyat Al-Akhras."
[Fatah's Facebook page, March 29, 2013]

Page administrator:
"Rest in peace sister Martyr (Shahida) Ayyat Al-Akhras"

Caption on picture:
"And the martyrs with their Lord, they shall have their reward and their light." (Quran part of Sura 57:19, translation Muhsin Khan)
"Bride in a Martyrdom (Shahada) dress, Ayyat Al-Akhras, who carried out the heroic operation (i.e., the suicide attack) in Jerusalem on March 29, 2002"
[Fatah's Facebook page, March 29, 2013]

Page administrator:
"The 11th anniversary of the Bride of Palestine, Ayyat Al-Akhras' Martyrdom death"

Caption on picture:
"11th anniversary
March 29, 2013
Ayyat, we are committed to your promise
We are committed to the promise of freedom, oh Bride of Palestine,
Ayyat Al-Akhras."
[Fatah's Facebook page, March 29, 2013]

Page administrator:
"Anniversary of Ahmed Masharqa's Martyrdom death.
On March 30, 2006, the Martyr infiltrated the Kedumim settlement, located on Nablus' lands, with an explosive belt. He caused the death of five Zionists and wounded many."

Caption on picture:
"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - Fatah's military wing/ Southern region
Proudly announce the death of their hero Martyr Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Masharqa."
"Hero of the Kedumim settlement operation (i.e., suicide attack) who answered the call of justice and the shout of duty when the land called to him"
"A short summary of the Martyr's life:
-The Martyr was born on July 24,1982, in the Al-Burj village in the Dura sub-district.
-Joined the Fatah movement's ranks in 2000.
-Took part in military operations and joined the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the beginning of the glorious Al-Aqsa intifada.
-Died a Martyr on March 30, 2006, on the eternal [Palestinian] Land Day, and became the first to give the new Israeli government the message that we are committed to Arafat's promise."
[Fatah's Facebook page, March 30, 2013]

"God has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of God; they kill, and are killed..." (Qur'an 9:111)

"They kill and are killed..." In other words, they take out some Infidels along with themselves. Only then do they receive "the gift of Paradise." This guy killed only himself -- no Infidels. No virgins for him!

"Suicide attack in Timbuktu wounds soldier: officer," from AFP, March 31 (thanks to B.D.):

AFP - A suicide bomber blew himself up at an army barricade in the northern Malian city of Timbuktu, wounding a soldier, a military officer said.

"A jihadist suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt after trying unsuccessfully to force his way through the barricade at the west entrance to Timbuktu, which was guarded by Malian soldiers," the officer told AFP by phone.

"A Malian soldier was wounded" and the bomber died instantly, he added, saying he could not give further details.

"It was a jihadist, that's all I can tell you for now. He failed," he said.

Several residents of the fabled caravan city at the edge of the Sahara Desert reported hearing a loud explosion Saturday night followed by sustained gunfire.

"Everyone hid inside the house," one resident told AFP. "No civilians were outside. We were afraid."...

"God has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of God; they kill, and are killed..." (Qur'an 9:111)

"Pakistani Militants Kill 4 in Attack on Court Complex," by Declan Walsh for the New York Times, March 18 (thanks to Lookmann):

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Militants stormed a court complex in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing 4 people and injuring at least 30 people, including a judge, in the latest assault on government authority in the region.

The attack at the court complex in Peshawar, the regional capital, triggered a fierce gun battle with the security forces during which the militants took hostages, according to the provincial information minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain. He said the hostage situation was resolved several hours later.

The militants may have been seeking to free fellow extremists who were being held on the court complex, Mr. Hussain said.

The police managed to kill one suicide bomber at the court gates before he could detonate his vest, a police official, Masood Afridi, told The Associated Press.

But a second bomber managed to enter a courtroom and set off his explosives, causing many of the casualties. Pakistani media reports said the female presiding judge, Kulsoom Afridi, had been seriously injured in the attack.

Television footage showed terrified people fleeing the court complex after the attack. The provincial government cordoned off the area and deployed an elite commando unit to end the assault.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Peshawar has suffered numerous attacks by militants in recent years, both from the Pakistani Taliban and associated extremist groups who hold sway in the nearby tribal belt....

"There is no fun in Islam," said the Ayatollah Khomeini, and what could be more fun than kicking around a headless goat carcass? "Suicide bomber kills 10 spectators at Afghan goat polo game," from Reuters, March 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):

(Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up during a traditional Afghan game of buzkashi, a game of horse polo played with a dead goat, killing at least 10 spectators in the northern province of Kunduz on Wednesday, the local governor's office said.

Among those killed were the district police chief who is the brother of Afghanistan's House Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor said. Two other family members were also killed.

At least 10 people were wounded when the attacker strapped with explosives, who was in the crowd, struck during the game being played in front of 3,000 spectators, the spokesman said.

For years after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, northern Afghanistan was largely free of insurgent violence but security has been deteriorating over the past two years.

Ten police officers, including the local counter-terrorism chief, were killed in a suicide bombing in Kunduz in late January.

Buzkashi, or "goat grabbing", is the national sport of Afghanistan, and involves two teams who try to accumulate points by propelling a headless goat carcass to the scoring area.

The belief-system underlying this is straightforward: the murderer was claiming the guarantee of Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for Allah (Qur'an 9:111). But to examine that as an ideological motivating factor would be "Islamophobic."

"Suicide bomber kills 2 in northwestern Pakistan," by Riaz Khan for the Associated Press, March 12 (thanks to Kenneth):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police van in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least two people, police said.

Local police official Zaheer Khan said 10 people were also wounded in the attack in the district of Bannu in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Initial reports suggested the attacker was on foot and targeted a police van near a police station, Khan said.

Khan said rescuers transported the dead and wounded to a nearby hospital, where some of the injured were listed in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion fell on Pakistani Taliban who often target police and security forces deployed there. The district of Bannu is located just outside the North Waziristan tribal region where several Pakistani, Afghan and al-Qaida-linked militant groups are based....

"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur." -- Barack Obama

"Blast Hits Afghan Capital Shortly After Hagel Arrives," by Alissa J. Rubin for the New York Times, March 9 (thanks to Lookmann):

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber wearing a vest bomb struck outside the Afghan defense ministry on Saturday, killing at least 10 people in a blast just hours after Chuck Hagel, the new United States defense secretary, arrived here in Kabul.

And a short time later, another suicide bomber detonated his explosive in eastern Afghanistan before reaching his target, but killed eight children and a policeman, according to Afghan military and hospital officials.

Although Mr. Hagel was not near the site of either blast, the episodes with their combined death toll of 18 in a single day appeared timed to coincide with his visit. The attacks in the heavily secured capital and in a more remote area of the country highlighted how Afghanistan remained vulnerable to attacks by the insurgency despite nearly 12 years of international efforts to stabilize it.

The attack in eastern Afghanistan occurred in Khost Province, and the bomber was stopped from doing more harm by a policeman who died as he tried to stop the bomber.

“One of our brave police officers hugged the suicide bomber and asked him not to blow himself up, but the bomber blew himself up anyway and our brave police officer was torn to pieces,” said Yaqub Mandozia, deputy police chief of Khost Province.

In Kabul, the defense ministry said that in addition to the 10 people killed at the ministry, who included two Afghan soldiers, 14 others were wounded.

Less than three hours earlier 20 journalists had gathered at the exact location of the explosion at the ministry’s gate to board a bus scheduled to take them to a ceremony in observance of the transfer of Bagram Prison to the Afghan government. At the last minute the trip was canceled even though it had been widely promoted a few days earlier.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the ministry in Kabul. Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman for northern and eastern Afghanistan, said the bomber was from Kandahar, and that the intention “is to send a message to the visiting American defense minister.” He denied that any civilians had been killed or wounded.

The Taliban have pledged repeatedly not to harm civilians, but according to the most recent United Nations report on civilian casualties the Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of the 2,754 civilian deaths and injuries in the Afghan conflict in 2012.

Of those killed and wounded, four worked for the ministry. Two of the dead were Afghan National Army officers as were two of the wounded, said Dr. Musa Wardak, the head of the military hospital in Kabul, which received most of the bodies. Among the 10 people killed were also a woman and a child, Dr. Wardak said.

The explosion, which was followed by heavy gunfire, occurred just as Kabul residents were going to work and streets were busy with people on foot, motorcycles and in cars....

And yet still no mosque or Islamic organization in the U.S. has any program to keep Muslims from imbibing the Islam of the "extremists." Now, why is that?

"Portland man charged with aiding suicide bomber in Pakistan," by Kim Murphy for the Los Angeles Times, March 5 (thanks to all who sent this in):

SEATTLE—A Portland, Ore., man was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday on charges of aiding one of three suicide bombers who conducted a deadly attack near the headquarters of Pakistan’s intelligence service in Lahore in 2009.

At least 30 people were killed in the attack, in which armed men sprayed guards with gunfire before sending a van loaded with explosives toward a police building near the provincial headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, one of the most powerful institutions in Pakistan.

Nearly 300 others were injured as the building was reduced to rubble and several others were twisted and broken. Emergency workers lined up corpses on the sidewalk.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges that Reaz Qadir Khan, 48, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in southeast Portland, was providing money and advice to one of the attackers, Ali Jaleel, who had traveled to Lahore from the Maldives with the aim of joining Islamic militants there....

Little is known about Khan except that he had been a wastewater employee with the city of Portland’s environmental services bureau since 2007. His brother attended his brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Paul Papak on Tuesday afternoon but did not speak to reporters.

According to the indictment, Khan and Jaleel engaged in a long email correspondence that began in 2005 with what appeared to be nostalgic recollections of their past ambitions.

Khan said he was “at a standstill in the matter of knowledge and practice,” and that “everything that we used to talk about now seems like a distant dream,” the indictment said. He said he was asking God to forgive him for his laxness and inaction.

Jaleel is said to have reminded him of promises they’d made to seek "martyrdom" in the name of God. “Where are the words you said with tears in your eyes, that ‘We shall strive until Allah’s word is superior or until we perish???’” he wrote in January 2006. “This world is of no use to us, so let’s sacrifice ourself [sic] for the pleasure of Allah in his way???”

Jaleel, it seemed, was preparing to take action. He was arrested with several others from the Maldives in Sri Lanka en route to Pakistan, reportedly to train to join militants in Iraq or Afghanistan. He determined to try again, and in October 2008 wrote Khan that he was planning to “hasten [his] departure” and would head for Khan’s home country, its exact location undisclosed, the indictment said.

He might not be able to wait for Khan, Jaleel wrote, but if he had to proceed, he would “leave bread crumbs” for Khan to follow. First, though, Khan had to promise to make sure Jaleel’s family would be taken care of.

Khan, according to the indictment, emailed him detailed instructions, advising him how to purchase his tickets, and suggesting that he not tell his family that he didn’t have a job awaiting him in Pakistan....

Khan arranged through an unidentified intermediary in Los Angeles to have $2,450 available for Jaleel to pick up from a “trusted brother” in Pakistan, but told Jaleel he should “keep discussion with him to a minimum” when he picked up the money.

On Nov. 5, the indictment says, he told Jaleel to leave a closed envelope addressed to him with the Pakistani contact. “Don’t write anything extra on the envelope. Anything you need to write, put inside,” he advised.

Ten days later, Khan emailed an associate of Jaleel about arranging travel to Pakistan for Jaleel’s two wives.

That appeared to be the last communication. On May 27, 2009, Jaleel and two others mounted the attack that struck near the regional ISI headquarters, killing all three bombers—but not before Jaleel recorded a video released by As Sahab, the media outlet of Al Qaeda, taking responsibility for the attack.

In it, according to the indictment, Jaleel can be seen preparing for the attack at a training camp in what is believed to be one of the tribally controlled areas of Pakistan. A statement he apparently recorded beforehand, under the name of Musab Sayyid, also is included. It says: “I want my blood to be…the red carpet that would take the Islamic nation to its glory,” he said....

Yet if anyone dared to explore the roots of Sunni-Shi'ite hostility, he would be accused of "Islamophobia," a crime considered to be worse than the murders themselves.

"Suicide bombing in Karachi kills 45 and injures 149 in attack that targeted Shi’ite Muslims as they left evening prayers," by Emily Davies for the Daily Mail, March 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The death toll from a suspected suicide bombing in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi on Sunday has risen to 45, a senior city official said.

Hashim Raza also said 149 people were wounded in the attack outside a Shi'ite mosque, the latest signal that Sunni groups are escalating sectarian bombings against the minority.

The bomb exploded outside a Shi'ite mosque as people were leaving evening prayers, said police official Azhar Iqbal. Men, women and children were among those killed and wounded, he said.

Witness Mariam Bibi said: 'It's like doomsday to me. I was watching television when I heard an explosion and my flat was badly shaken.

'I saw people burning to death and crying with pain. I saw children lying in pools of their own blood and women running around shouting for their children and loved ones.'

Another witness, Ali Reza, said: 'The explosion was so massive it jolted the entire area. Two flats and nearby shops caught fire after the explosion and balconies of various buildings collapsed.'

It is feared people have become trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed in the bombing.

No one has claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have targeted Shi'ites in the past, claiming they are heretics.

Initial reports suggest the bomb was rigged to a motorcycle, although a survey of the damage indicates there could have been additional explosives planted at the scene, the police official said.

'I heard a huge blast. I saw flames,' Syed Irfat Ali, a resident of the area, said, adding that people were crying and running to safety.

Sunni militant groups have stepped up attacks in the past year against Shi'ite Muslims who make up about 20 per cent of Pakistan's population of 180 million people.

Two brazen attacks against a Shi'ite Hazara community in south western city of Quetta have killed nearly 200 people since January 10.

Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for those bombings, which ripped through a billiard club and a market in areas populated by Hazaras, which are mostly Muslim Shi'ites....

"God hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain..." -- Qur'an 9:111

"Pakistan Ulema Permits Suicide Attacks," by Abdul Haq Omari for Tolo News, March 2 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The Chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council on Friday said that suicide attacks in Afghanistan are permitted as long as US forces are present in the country.

"Palestine is occupied by Israel, Kashmir by India, and Afghanistan by the US. So if the Muslims don't have the atomic bomb, they should sacrifice their lives for God," head of Pakistan Ulema Council Alama Tahir Ashrafi said in an interview with TOLOnews.

"We are asking America to leave the region in order for the region to become peaceful," he added.

Afghanistan's Ulema Council has rejected his comments, stressing that suicide attacks are unlawful under Islam.

"Pakistan does has the atomic bomb, so why are they carrying out suicide attacks? Suicide bombing is unlawful in Islam religion," member of Afghanistan's Ulema council Abdul Qayoub Hafiz told TOLOnews.

Afghan political analyst Mir Ahmad Joyenda said Ashrafi's comments show that Pakistan's Ulema supports the insurgency.

"I think they don't know enough about Islam or they are supporting Pakistan's intelligence office jobs. There is nothing about the suicide attacks in Islam. They [the Ulema] are permitting suicide bombings and showing their support," he said.

It comes after Pakistan's council of religious clerics recently announced that they will not attend a planned joint Ulema summit between the two countries to build support against suicide bombings and facilitate the Afghan peace process....

"God has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of God; they kill, and are killed..." -- Qur'an 9:111

"French-led forces seize Tessalit in northern Mali," by Katarina Hoije for CNN, February 8 (thanks to Kenneth):

Bamako, Mali (CNN) -- French-led forces battling Islamist rebels seized the town of Tessalit in northern Mali on Friday, France's defense ministry said.

Following air strikes, special forces parachuted in to secure the airport, while an armored infantry regiment moved in on the ground, the ministry said. Chadian forces participated in the operation, which came the same day that a suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint, the first known attack of its kind since the launch of the French-led offensive.

The attack by a teenager occurred in the city of Gao, authorities said. One Malian soldier was killed.

"The man approached the soldiers at the checkpoint on a motorbike. As soon as he got close, he set off the bomb," said Capt. Oumar Maiga, a spokesman for the Mali army....

The monthlong French offensive has killed "hundreds" of Islamist fighters in Mali, the French defense minister said this week, as his troops prepared to start withdrawing....

Despite the withdrawal, troops will continue operations to flush out militants in "some terrorist havens" in northern Mali, French officials said.

You mean like in Afghanistan?

Islamic extremists carved out a large portion of the north last year after a chaotic military coup.

They banned music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and they destroyed historic tombs and shrines in the region. World leaders feared that the al Qaeda-linked militants would turn the area into a terrorist haven.

No kidding, really?

Sorry, pal: the Qur'an only guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for Allah (9:111).

"Suicide Bombing in North Mali," by Krista Larson and Baba Ahmed for the Associated Press, February 8 (thanks to Lookmann):

A suicide bomber hit a checkpoint in northern Mali on Friday, killing only himself in the first known suicide bombing since French military forces intervened in this chaotic African nation whose northern half was ruled by armed Islamic extremists....

The suicide bombing happened in the city of Gao, which was occupied by armed Islamic extremists until French-led military forces pushed them out. It was the first known suicide bombing in Mali since France started its military intervention on Jan. 11.

Malian military spokesman Modibo Traore confirmed that a suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint at the entrance to Gao around 6 a.m. on Friday. The bomber, who was wearing an explosive belt, was the only casualty. The bomber was on a motorcycle and blew himself up just before a Malian military checkpoint. Officials at a French military base in Gao declined to comment on the attack.

Friday afternoon, Malian soldiers stood guard at a building near the scene of the attack, splattered in the bomber's blood. The only other evidence of the attack were the mangled, charred remains of his bike. The Malian soldiers said that nearby villagers had taken the man's remains away and buried them before sunset, as local Muslim custom dictates.

Residents who heard the blast from their mud-walled homes on the dusty road nearby said the attack occurred just after 6 a.m.

"It shook so loudly I thought it had hit my house," resident Agali Ouedraogo said.

Fears have been high of such attacks since the discovery of industrial-strength explosives earlier this week. French troops on Thursday were amping up security and searching out Islamic extremists who may be mixing among the population in Gao. On Tuesday, extremists fired rocket launchers at French troops near Gao....

"God has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of God; they kill, and are killed..." -- Qur'an 9:111

"Iraqi officials: Suicide car bomber hits army checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing at least 4," from the Associated Press, February 5 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber has rammed his explosives-laden car into an army checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing at least four people — two soldiers and two civilians.

Two police officers said Tuesday's attack in the town of Taji also wounded at least 14 people....

On Monday, a suicide bomber struck a group of anti-al-Qaida fighters in the town, killing 21 people and wounding 44.

Violence has ebbed across Iraq since the peak of the fighting, but deadly bombings and shootings still occur almost daily.

"The attackers struck at morning rush hour in the city centre, Sabr said, with the militants armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests looking to force their way into the police headquarters in the chaotic aftermath of the car bombing" -- avid to claim the promise of Paradise guaranteed to those who "kill and are killed" for Allah (9:111).

"At least 30 killed, 70 injured in attacks on Iraqi police station," from Al Arabiya, February 3 (thanks to Voice of the Copts):

A car bomb set off by a suicide attacker and followed by gunmen storming a police headquarters in the north Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killed 30 people and wounded 70 others on Sunday, a police general said.

Militants had apparently sought to take control of the compound, but were unsuccessful, Brigadier General Natah Mohammed Sabr, the head of the city's emergency services department said.

The attackers struck at morning rush hour in the city centre, Sabr said, with the militants armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests looking to force their way into the police headquarters in the chaotic aftermath of the car bombing.

In addition to the casualties, the attack caused massive damage to nearby buildings, Sabr said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's coordinated attack, but Sunni militants including Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq frequently target security forces and government land marks in a bid to destabilize the country....

"War is deceit," said Muhammad. And when he was annoyed by Ka‘b bin Al-Ashraf's verses mocking him, he allowed one of his followers to deceive Ka‘b in order to get close enough to kill him. Muhammad asked: “Who is willing to kill Ka‘b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" One of the Muslims, Muhammad bin Maslama answered, “O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?” When Muhammad said that he would, Muhammad bin Maslama said, “Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab).” Muhammad responded: “You may say it.” Muhammad bin Maslama duly lied to Ka‘b, luring him into his trap, and murdered him. (Bukhari 5.59.369)

"Suicide blast kills two near Somali president's palace," by Abdi Sheikh for Reuters, January 29 (thanks to Kenneth):

(Reuters) - An Islamist militant persuaded Somali government officials he had defected, then walked up to the president's palace compound on Tuesday and blew himself up near the gates, killing at least two soldiers, witnesses and rebels said.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels said the early morning suicide attack was the start of a new campaign against the country's Western-backed government and its leaders.

Palace officials said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was abroad at the time and Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, whose house was near the site of the explosion, was not injured.

The attack was a reminder of the threat still posed by al Shabaab, even after African peacekeepers pushed it out of the capital last year and forced it to retreat to the south....

Government officials said the attacker, Ali Abdi Hared, told them he had defected from the rebels and went on to join the country's security services on January 14.

Hared frequently visited the palace guards and was given an official pass to the palace, officials and guards at the scene said.

The government had been "rehabilitating and investigating" Hared, Somalia's information minister, Abdullahi Ilmooge, told Reuters. "The bomber was a national security soldier. The bomber had defected from al Shabaab," he added.

"A RENEWED CAMPAIGN"

When Hared walked up on Tuesday morning, the guards said they carried out a routine check and found he was wearing an explosive jacket.

The guards tried to prevent him from detonating his device, but it went off. "The man blew up himself near a wall between the Ethiopian embassy and the Somali PM's residence," Ahmed Ali, a Somali soldier at the presidential palace told Reuters.

"One guard died there and then. Another died of his wounds. They were all the guards of the prime minister," he added.

Al Shabaab - which wants to impose its strict version of Islamic law, or Sharia - said it killed seven soldiers in the attack and warned there would be more to come.

As I have pointed out many times, there is no non-strict version of Sharia. There is only implementation or non-implementation of its various provisions.

"The operation is part of a renewed campaign of attacks against Western puppets in Somalia, reminding them that the Mujahideen will get into them, whatever security precautions they take," the movement said in a statement....

In the U.S., if you don't believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace and jihad is solely a benign spiritual struggle, you're a greasy Islamophobe, a bigot, a racist, an enemy of all that is good. But somehow Muslims the world over keep misunderstanding Islam's core teachings of peace and spiritual self-improvement, and keep getting the crazy idea that jihad has something to do with violence. Sunni-Shi'ite Jihad Update: "Suicide bomb blast at a Shiite mosque in Iraq kills 42," from Agence France-Presse, January 23:

Samarra: A suicide bomb at a funeral in a Shiite mosque in north Iraq killed at least 42 people on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of deadly violence amid a political crisis engulfing the country.

The attack, which also left 75 people wounded, struck at the Sayid al-Shuhada mosque in Tuz Khurmatu, 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad, and targeted the funeral of a relative of a politician who was killed a day earlier.

No group claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants often launch attacks in a bid to destabilise the government and push Iraq back towards the sectarian violence that blighted it from 2005 to 2008.

Niyazi Moamer Oghlu, the secretary general of the provincial council of Salaheddin, which surrounds Tuz Khurmatu, put the toll from the attack at 42 dead and 75 wounded.

"Corpses are on the ground of the Husseiniyah (Shiite mosque)," said Shallal Abdul, mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, which lies 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad. "The suicide bomber managed to enter and blow himself up in the middle of the mourners."

Among the wounded were officials and tribal leaders, including Ali Hashem Mukhtar, the deputy chief of the Iraqi Turkman Front and a provincial councillor in Salaheddin, which surrounds Tuz Khurmatu.

The funeral had been for Mukhtar's brother-in-law, who was shot dead in Tuz on Tuesday afternoon....

Obama recently declared: "We achieved our central goal ... or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can't attack us again." What about the Taliban?

"Coordinated Kabul suicide attack targets government building," by Hamid Shalizi for Reuters, January 21 (thanks to Lookmann):

(Reuters) - Suicide bombers and gunmen launched an eight-hour assault on the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police on Monday, Afghan officials said, in the second coordinated attack on a government building in less than a week.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the operation In which all five attackers and three traffic police officers were killed, interior ministry officials said....

Last week, six suicide bombers attacked the National Directorate of Security (NDS), killing two guards. That attack followed December's failed assassination attempt on NDS chief Asadullah Khalid....

Monday's attack began when three men detonated suicide bombs outside the main entrance and was followed by the two remaining attackers storming the unfortified area, Deputy Interior Minister General Abdul Rahman said.

The pair, armed with automatic rifles, battled security forces outside the building nestled between two police hubs and close to parliament and a road commonly used by Afghan MPs....

"Honestly speaking, this type of attack, at the start of the year, indicates the coming months are going to be tough," a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Taliban will want to display their presence and reach with these kinds of attacks in Kabul."

No kidding, really?

Claiming the Qur'an's promise of Paradise for those who "kill and are killed" for Allah (Qur'an 9:111). "Suicide bomber hugs Sunni Iraqi MP, killing him and six others," from Agence France-Presse, January 16 (thanks to Twostellas):

FALLUJAH, Iraq // A militant posing as a construction worker killed a Sunni Iraqi MP and six others yesterday, wrapping his arms around the politician before blowing himself up.

The killing of Ayfan Saadun Al Essawi comes just two days after the finance minister, Rafa Al Essawi, a fellow Sunni and a member of the same tribe and political bloc, escaped an apparent assassination attempt as his convoy passed near where yesterday's attack took place.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants often target officials and high-profile individuals in an attempt to destabilise the government and push the country back towards the bloodshed that raged from 2005 to 2008.

Al Essawi's killing is likely to further inflame tensions, with Iraq already grappling with a political crisis pitting the prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki, against Essawi's secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc.

Al Essawi, 37, had been inspecting a road being paved south of Fallujah when the attacker, who was dressed as a construction worker, came up to him.

"The moment he stepped out of the car to check out this road between Fallujah and Amriyah, at this moment, there was a man," said Sohaib Haqi, the politician's office chief. "He came to him, hugged him, said 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest), and blew himself up."

Fallujah hospital's Dr Assem Al Hamdani put the overall death toll at seven dead - Al Essawi, four of his bodyguards and two civilians. Another six were wounded, including four of the MP's guards.

Al Essawi was also a former leader of the Sahwa, a collection of Sunni tribal militias that turned against Al Qaeda and sided with the US military from late 2006, helping to turn the tide of Iraq's bloody insurgency. He was himself inducted into parliament after another Sunni MP, Khaled Al Fahdawi, was killed in a suicide attack at the Umm Al Qura mosque in Baghdad in 2011....

While BBC newscasters apologize for and cover for jihad terror and Islamic supremacism in their newscasts, their architects have taken a more Islamorealistic view.

"BBC bunker: News studios built in bomb proof room to protect it from suicide attacks," by Alex Gore for the Daily Mail, January 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The BBC's new multi-million pound television news studio has been built to be bomb proof to protect journalists from suicide attacks.

The news room sits in a bunker under the main reception at the £1billion New Broadcasting House.

Staff have been assured they would be protected from a blast should a suicide bomber walk through the front door at the central London facility.

A BBC source told The Sunday Express: 'It's directly underneath so if a suicide bomber came in the front door they would be right over it. We've been assured it's bomb proof.'

The BBC refused to comment on the claim however, saying: 'We never discuss security issues.'...