Five months post former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the perpetrators of the bombing of Two Saints Church, Alexandria, last New Year’s Eve remain unknown–and the government seems to stall its investigation.

The suspects who were arrested shortly after the bombing have been released, and there is a prohibition against publishing information about the bombing that continues to be in force since January, even after Mubarak stepped down the following month.

On New Year’s Eve, a bomb was lobbed onto the front lawn of Two Saints Church, a landmark cathedral, while a service was ongoing. Some 25 died, and 100 were injured. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/01/egyptian-coptic-church-bomb-kills-21-wounds-79-14956/).

Speculation contends there may be links between the bombing of the church, and threats that were sent to the Coptic Church eight hours before the blast. Murmurs abound that the Salafists and the State Security collaborated in the bombings.

“[The] majority of Copts believe … the Salafists in collaboration with State Security carried out the bombings of the Alexandria Church,” activist Edward Fahmy told AINA.

Heightening suspicions that State Security was complicit is the fact that the security personnel and officers who were assigned to the church were not at their posts when the blast occurred.

Joseph Malak, attorney for the Coptic cathedral, said in a press conference at the Church of St. Mark in Alexandria that they have filed a case requesting that former interior minister Habib al-Adli is questioned about the incident.

They also asked in their lawsuit that reasons be disclosed as to why the suspects were released, and seek cancellation of the ban on publication about the bomb blast, which had been imposed since January.

The lawsuit also seeks to require that the investigations are completed by the Ministers of Justice and Interior, and that the perpetrators are sentenced as quickly as possible.

Malak said in the press conference that the lawsuit names the president of the Council of Ministers, the Attorney General and the Interior Minister. It demands the reopening of the case.

For some time, a long list of affidavits had been submitted to these government officials, and relatives of the victims have expressed willingness to testify. However, the government has not responded.

In the press conference which took place at the church’s Egyptian Center for Development Studies and Human Rights last Sunday, Malak said, “We will demand the Attorney General to take determined action to complete the investigation into the case and to speed up detection of the perpetrators and bring them to trial,” AINA reported.

Appeal to media

Also present at the press conference was the pastor of Two Saints Church, Father Makkar Fawzi, who appealed to media for help. “You are our last resort, we have talked with many officials without any answer.”

Rev. Abraham Emil of St. Mark Church said at the press conference that the government of Egypt has the capability to find the perpetrators, adding that the families of the victims are Egyptians, too. “They have the same rights as victims of the Revolution.”

The planners of a foiled bombing attack on a Christian church on Good Friday had planned to have the blast filmed for local and international media.

This was discovered when the 20^th suspect in the foiled plot, a media man, was picked up by police authorities. Cameraman Imam Firdaus of Jakarta-based Global-TV was recruited by Pepi Fernando, the group’s leader, the AP said.

Firdaus was tasked to film and broadcast the bombing and other acts of the terrorist group, the AP said. He was also asked by Fernando to invite foreign media to film the church bombing, Jakarta Globe said.

The suspects were picked up in a series of raids that the national police conducted this week, Col. Boy Rafli Amar, national police spokesman, told the AP. “He is now being questioned to determine his role in the group,” Amar said.

Amar told Jakarta Globe that Fernando wanted the church blast to be broadcast live. Some of the 20 suspects are also linked to a foiled book bombing campaign, the bombing of a police compound and a suicide blast last week at a Muslim mosque, AFP reported.

Plotters’ profiles

Fernando, who majored in Islamic religious education, graduated from Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University. He is married to Deni Karmelita of the National Narcotics Agency. They have three children, Jakarta Globe said.

Many of the other detainees also have university degrees, and some of them could be linked to the suicide bombing last week in a
local police compound in Cirebon, West Java, police told AFP.

Family members of the suspected plotters would not speak to media. However, friends of Firdaus said the arrested media man had secular beliefs, even if he studied at an Islamic university, the AP said.

Foiled church blast

Police defused nine bombs around the 3,000-capacity Christ Cathedral Church in Serpong, Jakarta, some devices weighing up to 175 lbs, the AP reported. Some bombs were positioned beneath a gas pipeline. The blast was timed to occur on Friday morning when thousands of worshippers were expected to be present, Jakarta Globe said.

Mastermind arrest

Police arrested Fernando in Banda Aceh on Thursday, in connection with the foiled book bombing campaign plot which he also masterminded. Upon interrogation, they then learned of the planned attack on Christ Cathedral, Jakarta Globe said.

In the foiled book bomb plot, which took place last month, several bombs were mailed to a number of people, including a counter-terrorism government official and some liberal Muslim leaders for their “sins against Islam,” the AFP reported.

Mosque blast

Some of the arrested suspects are also linked to a suicide blast in a mosque last week where 30 people were injured. This is the first time that a suicide bombing occurred inside a mosque in this nation of 240 million, said to be the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, the AFP said.

Some 20,000 police were deployed to safeguard Christian Easter celebrations in Jakarta, the AFP said. While 90 percent of Indonesia is Muslim, most of the people are moderates who hate violence, the AP said.

Fringe terror groups

In recent years, regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah attacked several areas in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings. The AP reported that small, extremist fringe terror groups are emerging in recent years which tend to be more vocal and more violent.

International Crisis Group, a think tank in Brussels, said there is a new trend of terrorism where small groups adopt “individual jihad” directed at police, Christians and other local enemies, the AFP reported.

Fernando learned how to make bombs through the internet, a source told Jakarta Globe, adding “Just Google it and you’ll find how to do it easily.”

Christian missionaries in Russia are worried about what may happen in Russia after a bomb blast that rocked the international section of the country’s busiest airport, killing 35 and wounding some 130 others.

Pavel Tokarchuk, director of Russian Ministries Moscow told Worthy News that people are in a state of panic after the explosion that hit the crowded arrival terminals of Domodedovo airport.

Among those killed are eight foreigners including one from the U.K., a German, two Austrians, two Takiks, an Uzbek and a Ukranian, BBC News said. Some 50 of those injured are in serious condition and receiving hospital care.

Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, immediately fired a number of officials who are responsible for the security of the airport saying, “All the officials responsible for organizing the process must be brought to their senses,” BBC News reported.

Among those who were dismissed are Moscow’s police deputy head Maj. Gen. Vladimir Chugunov, and regional transport chief Andrei Alexeyev, who only took the post last year, BBC News said.

More people may be fired as the investigation by the prosecutor general continues to determine whether transport officials committed criminal negligence, according to BBC News.

Russian authorities had been warned one week earlier that an “act of terror” would occur in one of the capital city’s airports, BBC News said. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but police are on the lookout for three suspects.

Past incidents

According to Reuters, the airport blasts are very similar to past work by Islamic rebels from the troubled Northern Caucasus region.

During New Year’s Eve, militants from the region planned a suicide bombing in the busy streets of Moscow. However, the bombs set off prematurely in the house that the bomber was renting, because her phone had received a spam text message, BBC reported.

In March last year, twin suicide bombings blamed on North Caucasus militants took place at two separate train stations in Moscow, killing 40. In Nov. 2009, a luxury express train from Moscow to St. Petersburg was bombed, killing 26, for which a North Caucasus Islamist group claimed responsibility, BBC said.

Heightened hatred, tensions

Ruslan Kurbanov of the Islamic Cultural Center of Russia in Moscow said, “With this attack, I think the alienation, fear, even hatred between people from the Caucasus and the rest of the residents in Russia will only grow stronger,” Reuters reported. Muslims comprise one seventh of Russia’s populace.

Days before the attack, hundreds of ethnic Russians took to the streets in support of a football fan who was killed by a native from North Caucasus. When police tried to contain the group, the latter began to attack people in a train who did not look Slavic, Reuters said.

Glen Howard, president of the Jamestown Foundation told Reuters, “The attacks in Moscow are going to further exacerbate the tensions created by the right-wing demonstrations in Moscow, and may result in further pogroms against and people from the North Caucasus.”

According to Worthy News, missionaries continue to monitor reports from militants who plan to step up the violence as Russia is preparing for its presidential elections in 2012.  

Russian Ministries told Worthy News that they have missionaries both in Moscow and the Northern Caucasus region, and in the latter case, they have delivered New Testaments and Christmas gifts to the area’s needy children.

Sources:

http://www.worthynews.com/9929-russias-missionaries-worried-as-suicide-blast-rocks-moscow-airport

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12284088

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70P31920110126?pageNumber=2

As some 1,000 Coptic worshippers in Egypt concluded their New Year’s Eve midnight service, a powerful bomb exploded, killing 21 and wounding 79 others.

The blast followed warnings from al-Qaida in Iraq that Christians in Egypt would be attacked. Police initially blamed the Saints Church in Alexandria attack on a parked car. Later, the Interior Ministry said it was likely a suicide bomber, The Guardian said.

The Ministry, in a statement said a number of cars were destroyed by the blast adding, “It is likely that the device which exploded was carried by a suicide bomber who died among the others,” The Guardian reported.

Both methods are commonly used by al-Qaida. The Egyptian government defeated a militant Islamic insurgency in the 1990s, and has long said there is no militant Islamic presence in the country.

However, there is a growing sector of Islamic hardliners who may have become more radicalized as sectarian tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Christians heightened, the AP said.

Bloomberg reported that the blast occurred at 12:30 a.m. on the first day of the New Year. Father Mena Adel, a priest at the service, said it occurred while people were leaving. He told The Guardian, “I was inside the church and heard a huge explosion. People’s bodies were in flames.”

Marco Boutros, 17, who survived the attack, told the AP, “The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf. All I could see were body parts scattered all over—legs and bits of flesh.”

Another witness told The Guardian, “This is a scene from Baghdad.” People mentioned the burned chassis of a wrecked car, and several body parts and dozens injured nearby.

Within hours of the explosion President Mubarak, on state TV, vowed to catch the perpetrators saying, “We will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt’s security…terrorism does not distinguish between Copts and Muslims,” the AP reported.

Bloomberg reported that Suleiman Awwad, presidential spokesman said, “the president, while expressing his condolences to the victims’ families, urges Egyptians, Muslims and Coptic Christians alike, to stand united against terrorism.”

Bishop Armia, a senior aide to Pope Shenouda III said, “This attack targets Egypt’s security as a whole. God will protect us,” the AP reported.

Tensions rising

Sectarian violence has worsened in Egypt, where only 10 percent of the populace of 80 million are Christians in a Muslim majority country. In November, a number of Christians were killed in a clash with police after they halted construction of a church, Bloomberg said.

The AP called it the New Year explosion the deadliest attack on Christians since 1999 when clashes in a southern Egyptian town led to the 20 people dead, mostly Christians. From 2004 to 2006, Islamic militants were responsible for three major bomb attacks in three Red Sea resorts that killed 125 people, the AP said.

The government blamed the attacks on local extremists but the AP said it may have been a ruse to draw attention away from fears of the al-Qaida, which would affect the country’s tourism industry.

No faith in government

Christians do not believe Egypt’s government is doing enough to protect them. After the church explosion, Christians clashed with police, and some forced entry into a mosque across the street where Christians and Muslims threw books, stones and bottles at each other, the AP said.

Later in the afternoon Christians waving kitchen knives again took to the streets. A Christian woman at Saints Hospital, which is affiliated with the church, shouted, “Now it’s between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians.”

Christians are doubtful a full investigation of the blast will be launched. Archbishop Arweis, a leading cleric in Alexandria, said police want to blame the blast on a suicide bomber so that they can say the attacker acted alone.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has been relentlessly attacking Christians in Iraq since October when they held siege on a church which resulted in 44 deaths, on behalf of two Egyptian Christian women who allegedly converted to Islam, the AP said.

The women have been kept in hiding by the church, and many hard-line Muslims believe the church is imprisoning them. The church has denied this, but al-Qaida in Iraq had pledged to escalate attacks on Christians until the two women are released, the AP said.

A Ukrainian Orthodox church was damaged by a bomb blast recently that killed a nun and wounded eight others.

The blast occurred at the Intercession Church in the city of Zaporоzhyе, southern Ukraine. The bombing occurred on the country’s celebration of its conversion to Christianity in 988 A.D., BBC News said.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill came to the country for an eight-day visit to mark the event. This caused a stir among some nationalists. Kirill also heads the biggest branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox church. Some Ukraine clergy, however, have chosen to be independent of Moscow, the BBC said.

The blast occurred on the second to last day of Kirill’s visit. However, no official word has been issued regarding motive, the Associated Press said.

An 80-year-old nun, Sister Lyudmila from the Holy Protection of the Virgin church was fatally injured and died later in the hospital, the Global Times said. The nun’s church falls under the Ukranian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, BBC said.

Five of those injured were hospitalized, Interfax said. Some of the church’s windows and floor were also damaged by the blast. The police and security continue to explore the area of the blast, the Global Times said.

The church that was bombed is located beside a marketplace. According to the Global Times, a small bag was seen near the entrance, but no one paid heed, a church priest said. An investigation of the damaged site revealed a homemade explosive with the equivalent off 500 g of TNT, the BBC said.