MUSLIM HATE OF CHILDREN
Babies killed as gunmen storm Kabul maternity
ward
12 May 2020
BBC
Another 15 people, including a number of
children, were injured in the attack by several gunmen, officials said.
Meanwhile, in the east, a bombing at a funeral
killed at least 24 people.
In the wake of the attacks, President Ashraf
Ghani said he was ordering the resumption of offensive operations against the
Taliban and other groups.
He accused the militants of ignoring repeated
calls for a reduction in violence.
The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind
the attack on a police commander's funeral in Nangarhar, in the east of the
country. It is still not clear who carried out the attack on the hospital, and
the Taliban have denied any involvement.
A maternity ward in the hospital is run by the
international medical charity Médecins sans Frontières
(MSF) and some of those working there are foreigners.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the
attack on the hospital "sheer evil" and an "unconscionable
assault". In a statement he urged the Afghan government and the Taliban to
co-operate to "bring the perpetrators to justice".
What happened at the hospital?
The attack began at about 10:00 (05:30 GMT),
and locals described hearing two blasts then gunfire. One doctor who fled during
the assault told the BBC about 140 people were in the hospital when the gunmen
attacked.
Another doctor told AFP news agency that
"total panic" took hold as the assault unfolded.
Ramazan Ali, a vendor who saw the attack begin,
told Reuters news agency: "The attackers were shooting at anyone in this
hospital without any reason... It's a government hospital, and a lot of people
bring in their women and children for treatment."
Afghan special forces rescued 100 women and
children, including three foreigners, an official told the BBC. The attackers,
who reportedly had gained access dressed as police officers, were all killed by
security personnel after a battle lasting hours.
Images from the scene showed soldiers carrying
one newborn baby to safety, swaddled in a blood-stained blanket.
Many foreign staff live in a guesthouse behind
the Dasht-e-Barchi Hospital
and a doctor who fled the building told the BBC he saw an explosion there too.
In the past, similar attacks in this mostly
Shia area of the capital have been attributed to IS. The group's leader in
South Asia and the Far East was arrested in Kabul on Tuesday, with two
other high profile members, Afghan intelligence said.
In 2017, IS gunmen disguised as medical staff attacked Kabul's main
military hospital, prompting widespread shock and anger and raising
questions about security. The authorities later confirmed about 50 people had
been killed.
But the Taliban also attack hospitals. Last
September, 20 people died after a truck packed with explosives was detonated by
militants from the group outside a hospital in southern Zabul province.
On TV, Mr Ghani said:
"In order to provide security for public places and to thwart attacks and
threats from the Taliban and other terrorist groups, I'm ordering Afghan
security forces to switch from an active defence mode
to an offensive one and to resume their operations against the enemies."
Even in a country which has seen the worst of
the worst, this savage attack on newborn babies and their mothers has shocked,
and shaken fragile hope this would be the year Afghanistan would finally start
to turn towards peace.
Images of special forces in bulky body armour, carrying infants to safety, will remain long in the
memory of those who have repeatedly called for a ceasefire - especially when
Afghans are battling another deadly enemy in Covid-19.
Despite Taliban denials that this ghastly attack
was their work, President Ghani's denunciation reflects the anger and
frustration of many. Some worry that groups like Islamic State, trying to drive
an even greater wedge between Taliban and the government, have also killed for
now what were slow uncertain steps toward peace talks.
And for those who have never trusted the
Taliban's commitment, this latest attack solidifies their resolve to keep
fighting.
According to survivors, thousands of people had
gathered for the local police commander's funeral, and the bomb detonated about
half-way through. Ataullah Khogyani,
a spokesman for the governor, said 68 people were injured.
A member of the provincial council was among
the at least 24 killed.
Tuesday's attacks were widely condemned by
countries around the world and human rights groups, with Amnesty International
saying: "The unconscionable war crimes in Afghanistan today... must awaken
the world to the horrors civilians continue to face."
On Twitter, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "I'm horrified by the appalling terrorist
attacks in Afghanistan today - including on a maternity hospital. Targeting
mothers, their newborns and medical staff is despicable."
Meanwhile, in northern Balkh province, at least
10 people were killed and many others injured in an air strike by US forces,
reports said. Residents and the Taliban claimed the victims were all civilians,
but the Afghan Defence Ministry said all those killed
were militants.
Since a February troop withdrawal agreement
signed between the US and the Taliban, talks between the Afghan government and
the Taliban have broken down over a prisoner swap and violence has continued
unabated.
The agreement was aimed at ending more than 18
years of war since US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power following the
9/11 attacks on the US, whose mastermind Osama Bin Laden had been given
sanctuary by the hardline Islamist group.
Tens of thousands of people, most of them
civilians, have been killed in the conflict. Many more have been injured or
displaced from their homes.
UN Tells Saudi
Arabia To Stop Stoning And Executing Kids
The Committee on the Rights of the Child also condemned the Saudi-led
coalition’s airstrikes on Yemen.
10/07/2016
GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. human rights watchdog called on Saudi Arabia on
Friday to end “severe” discrimination against girls and to repeal laws that
allow the stoning, amputation, flogging and execution of children.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child condemned the Saudi-led coalition’s
airstrikes in Yemen, which it said had killed and maimed hundreds of children,
and its “use of starvation” as a tactic in that war against Iran-backed
Houthis.
The committee’s 18 independent experts examined the kingdom’s record of
compliance with a U.N. treaty protecting the rights of people under the age of
18.
Bandar Bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, chairman of the Saudi
Human Rights Commission, who led a Saudi delegation to the committee’s review,
told the body that sharia, Islamic law, was above all laws and treaties,
including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. But the kingdom had the
political will to protect children’s rights, he said.
The U.N. experts voiced deep concern that Riyadh “still does not recognize
girls as full subjects of rights and continues to severely discriminate
(against) them in law and practice and to impose on them a system of male
guardianship”.
Traditional, religious or cultural attitudes should not be used to justify
violations of their right to equality, they said.
Children of Shiite Muslim families and other religious minorities are
persistently discriminated against in their access to schools and justice in
the Sunni-ruled kingdom, they said.
Children over 15 years are tried as adults and can be executed, “after trials
falling short of guarantees of due process and a fair trial”, the report said.
Out of 47 people executed on Jan. 2, 2016 - the biggest mass execution for
security offences in decades, that included a prominent Shi’ite cleric, at
least four wereunder 18 when sentenced to death, it
said.
The experts urged Saudi authorities to “repeal all provisions contained in
legislation which authorize the stoning, amputation and flogging of children”.
Saudi Arabia should “unambiguously prohibit the use of solitary confinement,
life sentences on children and child attendance of public execution”.
All forms of sexual abuse against children should be a crime and perpetrators
prosecuted, the experts said.
They cited the case of Muslim preacher Fayhan al-Ghamdi, saying his charges were reduced and he was released
from jail “after having raped, tortured and killed his five-year-old daughter”
in 2012.
Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens, Mostly Women, Kids Celebrating Easter in
Pakistan Park
by MUSHTAQ YUSUFZAI
NBC News
3-27-2016
At least 63 people, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 300
others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a children's park
in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday evening,
officials said.
"A large number of people, majority of them women and children, were
present in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore when the suicide bomber blew
himself up. Mostly women and children are killed and injured in the
blast," Said Lahore Police Chief
Dr. Haider
Ashraf.
The police chief said there was an unusual rush of the people in the park due
to the weekend and Easter. He said a large number of Christian community celebrating the holy day were present in the park.
"Most of the dead and injured are women and children," said Mustansar Feroz, the police
superintendent for the area in which the park is located.
Police officials said they had recovered the body of the suicide bomber.
He seems to be between 25 and 30 years old, he said.
A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar (TTP-JA), headed
by Maulvi Omar Khalid Khurasani claimed
responsibility for the suicide attack in Lahore.
The group spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, called NBC News from an undisclosed
location while using an Afghan cell number and said they carried out the
attack.
"Members of the Christian community who were celebrating Easter today were
our prime target," the spokesman said.
Asked if women and children were their target as most of those killed in the
blast included women and children, the Taliban spokesman said they were not on
their list.
"We didn't want to kill women and children. Our targets were male members
of the Christian community," Ehsan said. He said this was the first of
series of attacks they had planned this year in different parts of the
country.
Punjab Health Minister Salman Rafique said they had declared emergency
in all the hospitals of Lahore city to better handle the injured.
"We are in a state of emergency. All the hospitals are under emergency. All
ambulances had been called to site of the blast as a large number of people,
the majority of them women and children are injured," the health minister
said.
Media footage showed children and women crying and screaming and rescue
officials, police and bystanders carrying injured people to ambulances and
private cars.
Punjab Chief Minister, Shabaz Sharif later announced
a three-day mourning in the province.
In 2014,
Pakistan launched an offensive against Taliban and affiliated jihadist fighters
in North Waziristan, seeking to deprive them of safe havens from which to
launch attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Punjab has traditionally been more peaceful than other parts of Pakistan.
Sharif's opponents have accused him of tolerating militancy in return for peace
in his province, a charge he strongly denies.
Last year, a bomb killed a popular Pakistani provincial minister and at least
eight others when it destroyed the minister's home in Punjab.
Murder suspect 'suffering greatly,' his lawyer says
Bail denied Wisconsin man accused of killing 4 in his family
April 17, 2010
BY RUMMANA
HUSSAIN Criminal Courts Reporter
Chicago
Sun-Times
The Wisconsin man charged with killing four family members and seriously
injuring two other relatives in a hail of bullets as they slept at his sister's
Marquette Park home suffers from a "multitude" of mental health
illnesses, his attorney said Friday.
James Larry, a 32-year-old Muslim convert who allegedly told authorities he was
ordered by "Allah" to carry out the carnage, has been under doctors'
care since 2002 and recently received psychiatric treatment in Janesville,
Wis., said Julie Koehler, an assistant Cook County public defender.
Koehler said Larry was crying, his head bowed, when prosecutors detailed how he
allegedly killed his pregnant wife, Twanda Thompson,
19; son, Jihad, 7 months, pregnant niece Keyshai
Fields, 16, and 3-year-old Keleasha Larry, another
niece.
"He is suffering greatly," Koehler said, after Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered Larry held without bond.
Larry also shot his 57-year-old mother, Leona Larry, and a nephew Demond Larry, 13, before dawn Wednesday. Both remain in
critical condition, Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said.
The body count could have been worse, Santini added. He said Torino Hill, a
35-year-old man living in the home's basement, was spared when James Larry's
gun jammed and another niece, 12, escaped injury when she ran down the street
and called police.
After shooting several family members at the home, in the 7200 block of South
Mozart, James Larry kicked in the door of Hill's room and pulled the trigger
several times, but no bullets fired, Santini said.
James Larry, who has a lengthy criminal record, admitted his role in the
shooting spree, told detectives he knew his wife and 16-year-old niece were
pregnant and even led police to the 9mm handgun he allegedly used in the
shooting, Santini said.
"That's not the lot, turn left. It's the first vacant lot off the alley on
the left," Larry directed officers, according to a police report.
James Larry also allegedly told officers he wished he "had more
bullets."
"I wish I had more bullets. Kill me. I threw the gun in a vacant lot by
the police station. I'll show you," James Larry said, according to the
report.
A relative said that when James Larry looked to the sky and didn't see the moon
or the sun before dawn Wednesday, "that meant Allah told him to take his
family."
On Friday, several local Muslim leaders and organizations denounced the murders
and stressed that the Islamic faith should not be associated with the tragedy.
James Larry's sister Keshai -- the mother of three
victims, including the two dead girls -- joined Inner-City Muslim Action
Network members and Jewish and Christian leaders later in the afternoon to show
solidarity with the religious groups, IMAN's executive director Rami Nashashibi said.
For years, the Marquette Park-based IMAN has been involved in many
anti-violence efforts in the neighborhood and is taking an active role in
assisting the victims, Nashashibi said.
Cleric
supports targeting children
By Rajeev Syal
(Filed:
05/09/2004)
An extremist
Islamic cleric based in Britain said yesterday that he would support
hostage-taking at British schools if carried out by terrorists with a just
cause.
Omar Bakri
Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the extremist sect al-Muhajiroun,
said that holding women and children hostage would be a reasonable course of
action for a Muslim who has suffered under British rule.
In an
interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Mohammed
said: "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it
would be justified because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq.
"As long
as the Iraqi did not deliberately kill women and children, and they were killed
in the crossfire, that would be okay."
Mr Mohammed, 44, who lives in Edmonton, north
London, but is originally from Syria, also claimed that the Chechen rebels were
not responsible for the deaths of more than 350 people - at least half of them
children - who are so far known to have died in Beslan.
"The
Mujahideen [Chechen rebels] would not have wanted to kill those people, because
it is strictly forbidden as a Muslim to deliberately kill women and children.
It is the fault of the Russians," he said.
The father of
seven came to Britain in 1985 after being deported from Saudi Arabia because of
his membership of a banned group. He has since been given leave by the Home
Office to remain in Britain for five years but the Government is reviewing his
status.
He gave an
interview yesterday to promote a "celebratory" conference in London
next Saturday to commemorate the third anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for
Hendon, was infuriated by Mr Mohammed's comments.
"That sounds to me like incitement and I will report him to Scotland
Yard," he said. "It is an insult to most moderate Muslims, who are
sick of people like this claiming to represent them."
Bomber targets
Iraqi children
At least 18
children and one U.S. soldier die after suicide bomber attacks soldiers passing
out candy in Baghdad.
Thursday, July
14, 2005
By LARRY
KAPLOW
Cox News
Service
BAGHDAD, Iraq
A suicide car bomber struck U.S. soldiers handing out candy to a crowd of Iraqi
kids on Wednesday in an attack that killed at least 18 children and teenagers
and one American soldier. In all, 27 people died in the blast.
Horrified
parents in the Baghdad neighborhood rushed to the scene to find the street
scattered with children's bodies, dazed and injured soldiers, children's
sandals and a broken bicycle. The explosion injured an additional 70 people,
including a newborn and three U.S. soldiers, and shattered windows and blew
down nearby walls.
Twelve of the
dead were 13 or younger, said police Lt. Mohammed Jassim
Jabr. Among the wounded was 4-day-old Miriam Jabber, cut slightly by flying
glass and debris.
"There
were some American troops blocking the highway when a U.S. Humvee came near a
gathering of children," said Karim Shukir, 42.
The troops began handing out candy and smiley-face key chains.
"Suddenly,
a speeding car bomb ... struck both the Humvee and the children," Shukir said.
The area is a
predominately Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. The slaughter of so many Shiite
children is likely to raise tensions further between the majority Shiites - who
dominate the government - and the minority Sunni Arabs, the foundation of the
insurgency.
Army Lt. Col.
Kevin Farrell said his troops had cordoned off the area near a highway to
conduct searches when the bomber drove up a side alley. Unable to reach the
bulk of U.S. forces, he detonated his vehicle in the crowd of children,
witnesses said.
"The
scene was almost indescribable," Farrell said. "People nearest the
blast, some were literally obliterated on the scene. Multiple lacerations and
traumatic amputations. At least nine people I saw were killed instantly in a
most horrific fashion."
It was the
second major bombing this week, and highlighted the continuing dangers and
difficulties of interaction between Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops, who have
grown increasingly isolated in their bases more than two years after the
invasion of Iraq.
Iraqi children
are on their summer break from schools and often play in the streets. It is a
common practice for soldiers to distribute candy and other treats when meeting
Iraqi children.
Kareem Shakur
al-Dulaime's house, which is next to the blast site,
was badly damaged. His wife and two children in the home were injured and two
of his children in the street were hospitalized, but not seriously hurt.
The soldiers
"prompt these things," he said. "They moved terrorism to Iraq.
They brought Iraq's enemies to Iraq. They made this a battlefield."
At al-Kindi hospital, where many victims were taken, a mother
blamed the insurgents. "May God curse the mujahedeen and their
leader," she said.
"My son
was lucky - he was injured by a piece of shrapnel that lodged in his head. All
the rest of his friends died," Abu Mohammed said.
Army spokesmen
condemned the attack and said interaction between troops and civilians will
continue. Friendly Iraqis often wave at troops or approach them to pass on tips
about insurgent activity, U.S. military officials said.
"Part of
what we do is to interact with the public to help to tear down those perceived
barriers between the Iraqi people and the U.S.-coalition forces," military
spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Boylan said. "This horrific attack against
children continues to bring home to everyone that the terrorists offer nothing
of value or future for the Iraqi people. To attack children in this matter goes
against all that is good and proper in the world."
In the months
after the spring 2003 U.S.-led invasion, soldiers commonly bought sodas and
cigarettes in Iraqi groceries and talked to Iraqis. The frequency of such close
contacts was greatly reduced as the Sunni-led insurgency gathered momentum.
A recent audiotape
attributed to al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi stated that killing
civilians was permissible in the war against U.S. troops and the Iraqi
government.
U.S. officials
announced Tuesday that they had captured Abu Abd al-Aziz, who they said was Zarqawi's
top commander for Baghdad. Zarqawi and his followers are responsible most of
the car bombings that target Iraqis and U.S. troops, U.S. officials said.
In September
2004, about 35 children were killed in a multiple bombing when soldiers were
giving them treats at the opening of a water plant.
Wednesday's
bombing left a shallow crater scattered with injured residents and embedded
with engine parts in the asphalt street in the al-Khaleej neighborhood of
eastern Baghdad. One house had caught on fire and others had large portions of
exterior walls blown away.
Hours after
the blast, some of the wounded returned to their homes in the neighborhoods
that had been hurt by shrapnel, and swept up glass and brick.
Violence
against Afghan Children Rises, Worries UN
By Maha Saad
Voice of
America
United Nations
07 July 2008
A United Nations official says that violence against children is on the rise in
Afghanistan, warning that children are being used as suicide bombers and young
boys are being sexually abused. VOA's U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer has the story by intern Maha
Saad.
The U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, just back from a five-day visit to Afghanistan, warns that the
deteriorating security situation in the country is becoming a growing danger
for children. She says armed groups, including the Taliban, are recruiting
minors to serve as soldiers, munitions carriers and even as suicide bombers.
"Afghan sources confirm that children under 18 are being recruited into
the Taliban and other anti-government forces," said Radhika Coomaraswamy.
"There has been a surge in the last few months. Children are being used
even as suicide bombers."
Coomaraswamy says although there have been minimal reports of sexual violence
against girls in Afghanistan's Muslim society, there have been reports that
boys are being sexually abused by warlords and mujahadeen
fighters.
"We are particularly concerned about what has been called the 'bacha bazi'[boy-play] system or practice where there are young
boys increasingly associated with military commanders," she said.
Coomaraswamy is urging the Afghan government, the Taliban and other
anti-government groups to respect the safety and dignity of children.