After Ibrahim Hooper finishes his mission in Baghdad, he will need to book a flight to Algiers, in order to explain to these mujahedin that murder does not demonstrate the greatness of God.
Of course, as far as I know, Hooper (the spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations) is not going to Baghdad or Algiers. But stories like this, which we have documented in abundance here since the site began in October 2003, demonstrate that his loud protestations that Islam is a religion of peace and only bigots think otherwise are hollow: he may find it easy to convince Western non-Muslims that Islam is peaceful, but let’s see him try to convince the mujahedin of Iraq or Algeria or anywhere else.
“Gunmen kill 13 customs agents,” from Agence France-Presse, :
SUSPECTED Algerian Islamist militants shouting “God is Greatest” killed 13 customs agents in the north African oil producer’s southern desert, a customs official said.
The official, who declined to be identified, confirmed media reports today that said the 13 were killed, and 10 wounded, in an ambush yesterday on a party of customs officials travelling in a convoy of all terrain vehicles 200 km from the country’s biggest oil producing town of Hassi Messaoud.
One agent was also reported missing after the ambush in the southern province of Ghardaia, some 700 km southeast of the capital Algiers, state radio said.
It was the worst attack by suspected Islamist militants since the launch of an amnesty for rebels aimed at ending more than a decade of conflict in the OPEC oil-exporting country.
Those killed included senior customs officials including the regional director of the national customs service, Abdelkrim Khebouza.
Customs officials play a key role in security in the south, where groups of Islamist gunmen are believed to maintain links with bandits who run cross-border smuggling networks across Africa’s Sahel region.
Independent newspaper El Watan said the assailants were chanting “God is Greatest” during the attack on the agents who were heading for the oil area of Ouargla to attend a seminar.