Recently in Sunni-Shi'ite Jihad Category

No one particularly cares about the bloody ideology that incites all this murder. To investigate that would lead to uncomfortable questions about the texts and teachings of Islam. Better to focus on the latest "Islamophobia" report instead.

Note also that there will be no international outcry over the "desecration" of these mosques. That is because the bombers were Muslims; that kind of moral opprobrium is reserved solely for the kuffar.

"Fresh bombings in Iraq target Shiite mosque, 9 killed," from ANI, May 21:

Beijing: At least nine people were killed and 53 others wounded in bombing attacks against two Shiite mosques in Iraq's southern city of Hilla on Monday, a police source said.

A suicide bomber wearing explosive vest blew himself up at Al- Wardiyah mosque in Hilla, some 100 km south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and about five minutes later a bomb exploded in the nearby Al-Galagh mosque, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The two attacks targeted worshipers in the Shiite mosques and some of the wounded people were in critical conditions, he added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, were responsible for such massive attacks in the country, raising fears that the terrorist group and other militia could return to widespread violence.

Earlier on Monday, a series of car bombs and shootings mainly targeting Shiite areas across Iraq killed at least 61 people, including several Iranian pilgrims, and wounded some 200, apparently in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife among Iraqis....

"There's still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that." - Condoleezza Rice, January 2007.

Six years later, Washington is even more clueless than it was then.

"Dozens killed by car and suicide bombs in Iraqi cities," from the BBC, May 20 (thanks to BD):

More than 70 people have been killed and many others injured in a series of bomb attacks across Iraq.

Baghdad was worst hit, with several explosions at bus stations and markets in the mainly Shia Muslim districts.

Attacks also occurred in Samarra, north of the capital, and Basra and Hilla further south.

It is one of the worst days of violence in recent months as Iraq has seen a rise in attacks linked to growing political and sectarian tension.

The bloodshed has raised fears of a re-emergence of the levels of sectarian violence seen in 2006 and 2007.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to make immediate changes to Iraq's security strategy and told Iraqis that militants "will not be able to return us to the sectarian conflict"

Looks as if the perfume is already out of the bottle, Nouri.

In a separate incident, 10 policemen kidnapped on Saturday in western Anbar province were found dead....

But to discuss the murderous ideology behind all this -- that would be "Islamophobic"!

"Attacks kill 16 in Iraq, 8 police kidnapped," by Sameer N. Yacoub for Associated Press, May 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of attacks killed at least 16 people in Iraq on Saturday, while gunmen abducted eight policemen guarding a post on the country's main highway to Jordan and Syria, the latest in a wave of violence to grip the country.

The shootings and bombings follow three days of attacks that killed 130 people in both Shiite and Sunni areas in scenes reminiscent of retaliatory attacks between the two groups that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007. The spike in bloodshed in recent weeks has raised fears the country may be heading toward a new round of sectarian conflict.

Tensions have been worsening since Iraq's minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias in the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have frequently targeted them with large-scale attacks. But the sharp jump in attacks on Sunni areas, including bombings on Friday that killed at least 76 people, has fueled concerns of renewed retaliatory killings.

In Saturday's deadliest attack, gunmen broke into the house of an anti-terrorism police captain in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, killing the officer and his family in their sleep. Police officials identified the dead as Cap. Adnan Ibrahim, his wife and two children, aged eight and 10.

The attackers fled the scene, and killed another policeman who tried to stop them at a nearby checkpoint....

The attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to more than 130 people, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets..." But remember: it's a Religion of Peace, and if you dare think otherwise, you're a greasy Islamophobe.

"Iraq: Bombs targeting Sunnis claim at least 76 lives," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, May 17 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD — Bombs struck Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in two months, officials said. The surge in violence has raised fears the country could be on the path to a new round of sectarian bloodshed.

The attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to more than 130 people, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the Islamic sects that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.

Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north on April 23.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks. An increase attacks against Sunni mosques has fed concerns about a return to retaliatory warfare.

The deadliest blast on Friday struck worshippers as they were leaving the main Sunni mosque in Baqouba, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Another explosion went off shortly afterward as people gathered to help the wounded, leaving at least 43 dead and 56 wounded, according to police and hospital officials. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the road outside the mosque....

"The bloodshed came amid growing tensions between the Shiite-led government and minority Sunnis following a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north." This is part of a 1,400-year-old jihad. Of course, in Washington, where they know jihad is an interior spiritual struggle, they are probably preparing new aid packages for both factions as we speak, and they will certainly heal this conflict in the blink of an eye.

"Wave of bombings kills at least 33 in Iraq," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, May 14 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — A car bomb exploded near a bus station in Baghdad's main Shiite district Wednesday, the deadliest in a series of explosions that killed at least 33 people nationwide, officials said.

The bloodshed came amid growing tensions between the Shiite-led government and minority Sunnis following a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north. Violence has ebbed sharply in Iraq, but a spike in attacks has raised fears about a return of the sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks. An increase attacks against Sunni mosques has fed concerns about a return to retaliatory warfare.

The day began violently when an explosives-laden car parked in the center of the ethnically divided city of Kirkuk at around 3:00 p.m., killing three civilians and wounding eight. An hour later, another parked car bomb exploded in the same area, killing two children and their parents as they were traveling in a car nearby, the city's deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said....

Hours later, several bombs struck within a 90-minute time frame as Iraqis were heading home from work or doing errands in mainly Shiite areas of Baghdad.

The deadliest was in the sprawling slum of Sadr City, an area that saw some of the fiercest fighting between Americans and Shiite militias during the peak of sectarian bloodshed. Police and hospital officials said a car bomb exploded near a crowded bus stop in the area, killing at least seven people and wounding 20. The blast also damaged several shops and cars in the area, which was sealed off by police.

A car bomb also struck firefighters minutes after they arrived on the scene to extinguish a burning car in the mainly Shiite Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad, killing two and wounding nine others....

At least six other bombings occurred in rapid succession near other bus stops or outdoor markets across the Iraqi capital, killing 15 people and wounding nearly 50 people.

In other violence, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a police patrol, killing two officers and wounding eight other people in the town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding eight other people, a police official said.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for all the attacks. All of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, but car and suicide bombings are a hallmark of al-Qaida's Iraq branch....

"There's still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that." - Condoleezza Rice, January 2007.

That's the kind of superficial and clueless analysis that still prevails in Washington, and that was before Obama. Yet no number of foreign policy disasters seems to be enough.

"Iraqi officials: Bombing near Sunni mosque south of Baghdad kills 3 worshippers," from the Associated Press, May 10:

BAGHDAD — A bombing at a Sunni mosque near Baghdad on Friday killed three worshippers and wounded seven others, police said, reflecting rising sectarian tensions across Iraq.

Insurgents have been targeting Sunni mosques following a deadly crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest site in Hawija town last month. Sunnis were protesting perceived discrimination by the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government.

The surge in sectarian-based fighting raises concerns that the nation is on a path back to the fighting of the last decade that approached a state of civil war.

Police said a bomb went off after Friday mid-day Muslim prayers as worshippers were leaving the al-Sultan mosque in Mahaweel, 55 kilometers (35 miles) south of the capital.

Also Friday, police said a bomb explosion struck an army patrol in western Iraq, killing one soldier and wounding two others.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mosque attack....

In the lead paragraph, the Associated Press identifies Manssor Arbabsiar as a "Texas man." Do you really think that his residence in Texas is the salient part of his identity in reference to this jihad plot that would have resulted in "mass casualties" in a "Washington restaurant"?

"Feds in NY seek 25 years in Saudi ambassador plot," from the Associated Press, May 3 (thanks to Kenneth):

NEW YORK — Prosecutors in New York are seeking a 25-year prison sentence for a Texas man who admits he plotted to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States.

The government says in papers filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan the "extremely serious crime" calls for the maximum sentence.

Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty in October to two conspiracy charges and a murder-for-hire count. The U.S. citizen has an Iranian passport and lived in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Arbabsiar admitted he was directed by Iranian military officials to go to Mexico on multiple occasions from the spring to the fall of 2011 to arrange the assassination attempt, which never occurred.

The government says Arbabsiar recognized his planned attack on the ambassador at a Washington restaurant likely would've resulted in mass casualties.

“There’s still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that.” -- Condoleezza Rice, January 2007

They still haven't, oddly enough! Washington continues to pursue such fantasies, while any investigation of the bloody ideology behind this conflict is strictly forbidden.

"Sunni-Shia confrontation pushes Iraq back to the brink of war," from Asia News, May 2 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia Muslims is getting worse in Iraq. At least 22 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Wednesday.

To the north of the capital, gunmen attacked a police station and occupied it after killing five police officers.

In the western province of Anbar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest in a group of government-backed Sunni "Sahwa" fighters who were collecting their salaries, killing 14 in a town about a hundred kilometres east of the city of Falluja,.

Since it was set up in 2005, the "Sahwa" has been the target of constant attacks by Sunni extremist groups fighting the government of Shia Prime Minister al-Maliki, who is accused of marginalising their religious sect, which ruled Iraq under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

In Baiji, 180 km north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed four policemen. A car bomb in a Shia district in northeastern Baghdad killed at least three people, wounding scores more. Another car bomb north of the city of Ramadi, which is 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, killed two policemen and wounded another ten.

The recent spate of attacks follows a month of clashes between Sunnis and Shiites that peaked with provincial elections on 20 April with over 460 people killed in a month. This is the worst level in violence since US troops withdrew in 2011. Fourteen candidates, mostly Sunni, are among the dead.

On 26 April, four bombs exploded in front of Sunni mosques in Baghdad, packed for Friday prayers, killing four and wounding more than 50.

Several analysts and politicians, including the al-Maliki, have linked the violence in Iraq to Syria's civil war, where several Iraqi jihadist groups are fighting with the rebels against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who belongs to the Alawi minority, which is linked to Shia Islam.

Riots and attacks have not spared Iraqi Kurdistan, where, for months, Kurds have been in a fight with the central government over oil.

Here the government used the army to oust Sunni fighters from an area south of Mosul, with dozens of deaths among military and militias.

If a Catholic really had done that, there would have been an international uproar. But no one will take much notice of this.

"Saudi Wahhabi Sheikh Calls On Iraq's Jihadists to Kill Shiites," by Haytham Mouzahem for Al-Monitor, April 28:

On April 23, Saad al-Durihim, a Saudi Wahhabi sheikh, posted a tweet on Twitter in which he said that jihadist fighters in Iraq should adopt a "heavy-handed" approach and kill any Shiites they can get their hands own, including children and women. This is so that the "rawafid" — a term used by Wahhabi Salafists to refer to Shiites — will fear them.

This tweet sparked sharp criticism on Twitter. Many considered it to be incitement to murder and contrary to the tolerance of Islam, which forbids the killing of women and children in battle, even those of infidels and polytheists.

Sheikh Durihim had previously posted a tweet in which he said that the people of Najd [in central Saudi Arabia] were the "saved group", meaning they alone were the only ones who would enter Paradise on Judgment Day among all humans, including other Muslims. Najd is the region of Saudi Arabia where Wahhabism originated.

Daraihim's statements denouncing the Shiites as apostates — in accordance with Wahhabi Salafist doctrine — are not the first of their kind. Takfir (the idea of Muslims renouncing other Muslims as nonbelievers) goes back to fatwas issued by Sheikh Taqi ad-Din bin Taymiyyah, a Syrian sheikh from the Hanbali school of jurisprudence born in 1283 A.D. in Harran, a city near the Turkish-Syrian border. Sheikh Taymiyyah considered Shiites to be deluded heretics. He accused Shiite scholars of blasphemy and considered the general Shiite populace to be ignorant and misguided. This led his followers — in particular Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1700-1791), the founder of Wahhabism — to denounce all Shiites, regardless of sect, as nonbelievers. They also authorized killing Shiites, holding their women captive, and stealing from them. This goes against the words of the Prophet Muhammad: "The whole of a Muslim is inviolable for another Muslim: his blood, his property and his honor."...

That doesn't apply to non-Muslims. This statement is also ascribed to Muhammad: "I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah." (Sahih Muslim 30)

So the Infidels' property and life are not protected unless and until they convert to Islam.

Actually it was Shi'ite jihadists targeting Sunnis. But to investigate the bloody ideology behind this would be "Islamophobic."

"16 killed in bombing of two Sunni mosques in Iraq," from DPA, April 12:

At least 16 people were killed on Friday in bombings targeting two Sunni mosques in Baquba, some 57 kilometres north-east of the capital Baghdad, said security officials.

Two back-to-back explosions occurred as worshippers were leaving one mosque, killing at least 15 people and injuring 26 others, the officials added.

One person was killed and five were injured in an explosion near a second Baquba mosque, said police....

The violence comes amid a widening crisis between the Shiite-led Government and the country’s once-dominant Sunni minority.

Thousands of Sunni protesters have been holding protests for nearly four months to demand Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki repeal laws which they claim target Sunnis.

Somehow these jihadists misunderstood Muhammad's message of mercy, love and peace. If only someone had been there to give them roses.

"Officials: Car bombs kill 19, wound 72 in Baghdad," by Sinan Salaheddin for the Associated Press, March 29 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say four car bombs have struck Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding 72.

A police officer says the deadliest bombing was in western Jihad neighborhood when a parked car bomb exploded as worshippers were leaving a mosque after Friday prayers. Seven people died there and 25 were wounded.

Another police officer says four worshippers were killed and nearly 20 were wounded in a bombing in eastern Qahira neighborhood. He says three people died and 15 were wounded in the eastern Zafaraniyah district and that another car bomb killed five and wounded 14 in the northeastern Binook neighborhood.

Three health officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media.

And the Sunni Pakistani leaders don't want to rein in the jihadist attackers. Yet to examine the ideology behind these murderous attacks would be "Islamophobic."

"Shiite Leader: Sectarian Attacks Are 'Genocide,'" by Kathy Gannon for the Associated Press, March 9:

Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims have started using the word "genocide" to describe a violent spike in attacks against them by a militant Sunni group with suspected links to the country's security agencies and a mainstream political party that governs the largest province.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group of radical Sunni Muslims, who revile Shiites as heretics, has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks throughout Pakistan. Linked to al-Qaida, it has been declared a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., yet it operates with relative ease in Pakistan's populous Punjab province, where Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and several other violent jihadi groups are based.

The violence against Shiites has ignited a national debate — and political arguments — about a burgeoning militancy in Pakistan. The latest attack was a massive bombing earlier this month that ripped apart a Shiite neighborhood in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, killing 48 people, many of them as they left a mosque after saying their evening prayers. So far this year nearly 300 Shiites have been killed in devastating bombings, target killings and executions.

The unrelenting attacks also have focused the nation's attention on freedoms that Pakistani politicians give extremists groups, staggering corruption within the police and prison systems and the murky and protracted relationship between militant groups and Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies.

"The government doesn't have the will to go after them and the security agencies are littered with sympathizers who give them space to operate," Hazara Democratic Party chief Abdul Khaliq Hazara, told The Associated Press in a recent interview in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan where some of the most ferocious anti-Shiite attacks have occurred.

He labeled the killings as the "genocide of Hazaras," whom are mostly Shiites and easily identified by their Central Asian facial features.

"I have a firm belief that our security agencies have not yet decided to end all extremists groups," said Hazara. "They still want those (militants) that they think they can control and will need either in India or Afghanistan," he said referring to allegations that Pakistan uses militants as proxies against hostile India to the east and Afghanistan to the west....

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....

Yet to examine the bloody ideology that inspires this never-ending series of murders would be "Islamophobic."

"4 car bombs at outdoor markets in Iraq kill at least 36, wound 100," from the Associated Press, February 8 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD – Car bombs struck two outdoor markets and a group of taxi vans in Shiite areas across Iraq on Friday, killing at least 36 people and wounding nearly 100 in the bloodiest day in more than two months, as minority Sunnis staged large anti-government protests.

Sunni protesters have rejected calls to violence by an Al Qaeda-linked group, but there is concern that Sunni insurgents could step up attacks ahead of the April 20 provincial elections -- the first country-wide vote since the U.S. troop withdrawal more than a year ago.

On Friday, tens of thousands of Sunni protesters rallied in five major cities against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite accused of monopolizing power. Sunnis also complain of official discrimination.

In the city of Samarra, rally speaker Sheik Mohammed Jumaa sent a warning to the prime minister. "Stop tyranny and oppression," he said. "We want our rights. You will witness what other tyrants have witnessed before you."

In the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in restive Anbar province, demonstrators blocked the main highway to Jordan and performed Friday noon prayers, the highlight of the religious week. Anbar is a former Al Qaeda stronghold that saw fierce fighting against U.S. forces.

Other rallies were held in the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, as part of weekly Sunni demonstrations that were sparked by the December arrests of bodyguards of a senior Sunni politician.

Earlier Friday, suspected Sunni insurgents detonated five car bombs, killing at least 36 people and wounding 97, health and police officials said. It was the bloodiest day of attacks since Nov. 29, when 43 people, many of them Shiite pilgrims, were killed in a wave of attacks....

Hadi Jalo, an analyst at the Baghdad-based Political Decision Center for Strategic Studies, said he believes Al Qaeda-linked militants in Iraq are trying to exploit the growing Sunni discontent.

"I believe that with this fertile atmosphere there will be more attacks ahead of the provincial elections," he said.

No kidding, really?

"The men, including a Syrian, belong to the ultra-conservative Sunni Salafist movement." As I was saying. "4 arrested in Egypt after shoe thrown at Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," by Ayman Mohyeldin for NBC News, February 6:

CAIRO -- Egypt's security arrested four men who were protesting outside a Cairo mosque, where the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was praying.

The men, including a Syrian, belong to the ultra-conservative Sunni Salafist movement.

One man threw a shoe at Ahmadinejad, a Shiite, who was never in any danger.

The Al-Hussein Mosque is revered by Shiite Muslims, who are widely disliked by conservative Sunni Muslims, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi was previously a member of the Brotherhood.

Many Sunni Muslim groups have denounced the Iranian president’s visit to Cairo and have called on Egypt’s government to prevent Ahmadinejad from visiting any religious sites that are significant to Shiite Muslims.

Ahmadinejad met with Sunni Islam's most senior scholar at Al Azhar shortly before he went to pray at the Al-Hussein Mosque.

But remember: to examine and resist the bloodthirsty ideology that leads to these murders would be "Islamophobic." The real problem is not these killings, but those bigoted, hate-mongering non-Muslims who dare to say that people should understand and fight against the spread of this murderous ideology.

"Suicide Bomber Attacks Pakistani Mosque, 22 Dead," from the Associated Press, February 1 (thanks to Lookmann):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a Shiite mosque in northwestern Pakistan as worshippers were leaving Friday prayers, killing 22 people and wounding over 30 in the latest apparent sectarian attack in the country, police said.

Shiite Muslims in Pakistan have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and 2012 was the bloodiest year for the minority sect in the country's history.

The attack on the mosque took place in the town of Hangu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has experienced previous clashes between the Sunni and Shiite communities that live there.

The bomber staged his attack at one of the mosque's exits leading to a bazaar, said Hangu police chief Mian Mohammad Saeed....

The explosion killed 22 and wounded over 30 people, said another police officer, Naeem Khan. One policeman who was guarding the mosque was killed and another was injured. Most of the dead and wounded were Shiites, but some of the casualties were also from the country's majority sect since there is a Sunni mosque nearby, said Khan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion will likely fall on the Pakistani Taliban or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which have both carried out bombings against Shiites....

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shiites were killed in targeted attacks in Pakistan in 2012, including over 120 in Baluchistan.

Sectarian militant groups, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, have increased their strength through alliances with al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for the past several years.

Rights organizations have criticized the Pakistani government for not doing enough to crack down on the attacks against Shiites.

Pakistan's intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s, to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to operate fairly freely.

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....

Yet no one dares address the ideology that inspires such murders. "Bombs in Iraq kill 24, mostly Shiite pilgrims," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, January 17 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Insurgents unleashed a string of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims across Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and extending a wave of deadly bloodshed into a second day.

The violence followed nearly two weeks of relative calm and threatened to fuel rising tension among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups. Shiite pilgrims are a favorite target for Sunni insurgents who seek to undermine the country's Shiite-led government and provoke sectarian fighting.

The worst attack was near Dujail, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, where a pair of car bombs exploded near pilgrims who were walking to a shrine in the town of Samarra.

The head of the Salahuddin provincial health directorate, Raed Ibrahim, said 11 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded.

"We heard thunderous explosions, and everybody went outside and saw burning cars and several bodies on the ground. Market stalls on both sides of the road were on fire," said Naseer Hadi, who works in the Dujail post office.

The pilgrims were heading to Samarra to commemorate the death of two prominent Shiite Imams who are buried there in the al-Askari shrine. Associated Press video showed a damaged Shiite mosque and shattered shop windows....

There is, meanwhile, absolutely no investigation of the belief-system and ideology underlying this carnage, much less any attempt to combat it. That would be "Islamophobic." "Dozens killed in twin bombings on Pakistan billiards hall," by Mujib Ahmed and Andrew Mach for NBC News, January 10 (thanks to Kenneth):

Updated 7 p.m. ET: The death toll from twin bombings on a billiards hall Thursday in southwest Pakistan rose to 81, with at least 120 more injured, according to a senior police official.

Police officer Hamid Shakeel said the bombs went off about 10 minutes apart, The Associated Press reported, with the second blast causing the building to collapse. Several nearby shops, homes and offices were also damaged.

Lashkar e Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant organization aligned with al-Qaida, took responsibility for the attack.

Many of the dead and wounded were Shiite Muslims, officials said; police officers, journalists and rescue workers who responded to the initial explosion were also among the dead, the AP reported....

The pool hall assault in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, was the third terrorist attack of the day in Pakistan.

Earlier, a bomb targeting paramilitary soldiers in a commercial area in Quetta killed 12 people and wounded more than 40 others, Shakeel said, the AP reported.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, a bomb in a crowded Sunni mosque in the northwest city of Mingora killed 22 people and wounded more than 70, said senior police officer Akhtar Hayyat, the AP reported.

It was one of the country's deadliest days in recent years.

The Pakistani government's failure to crack down on the killings of the country's Shiite were criticized by Human Rights Watch, which said more than 400 Shiites were killed in targeted attacks in Pakistan in 2012.

"2012 was the bloodiest year for Pakistan's Shia community in living memory and if this latest attack is any indication, 2013 has started on an even more dismal note," Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at Human Rights Watch, told the AP.

"As Shia community members continue to be slaughtered in cold blood, the callousness and indifference of authorities offers a damning indictment of the state, its military and security agencies," Hasan said. "Pakistan's tolerance for religious extremists is not just destroying lives and alienating entire communities, it is destroying Pakistani society across the board."

If Hamas-linked CAIR really wanted to do some good, they'd run their "jihad is blowing on dandelions" ads in Baghdad, not Chicago.

"Bombings kill 8 in Iraq," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, January 10 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of attacks on a bus stop, police patrol and a convoy carrying the head of a university on Thursday in Iraq killed eight people and wounded 20 others, authorities said.

One explosion occurred when a car filled with explosives blew up near a bus stop in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah as commuters gathered to catch rides to various parts of Baghdad. The blast killed five people and wounded 15 others, police officials said.

The new violence comes amid a wave of discontent among the Sunni majority over alleged discrimination by the government led by the Shiite minority sect. Protests swept Sunni areas in Anbar province and other parts of the country after the arrests of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, one of the central government's most senior Sunni officials.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's bombing. Attacks against Shiites are typically the work of Sunni extremists....

Typically!