|
|
Signup to Pray |
You must log in.
|
|
Pray for Me |
You must log in.
|
|
Online Bible |
James 2:10
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all.
_VIEW_CONTEXT |
|
|
|
 |
Posted by: Shawn on Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 06:42 PM
|
 |
 |
 |
Security patrols to prevent beheading revenge attacks, please pray
HUNDREDS of security forces patrolled tense streets in the Indonesian province of central Sulawesi yesterday to prevent revenge attacks after assailants wearing black veils beheaded three Christian schoolgirls and seriously wounded a fourth.
National police spokesman Major-General Aryanto Budihardjo said the murders were carried out by "terrorists" seeking to destabilise the area, which has long been plagued by violence between Muslims and Christians. He said it was no coincidence the attack occurred just days before the biggest holiday on the Islamic calendar.
More than 1,500 soldiers and police armed with assault rifles patrolled the town of Poso yesterday, as Muslims flocked to markets to prepare for Eid al-Fitr, which takes place on Thursday and Friday.
"The people who carried out this terrorist act hoped to spark a new cycle of violence just as relations between Muslim and Christian communities are improving," Maj-Gen Budihardjo said. So far no arrests have been made and there are no key suspects, he said. Only six people have been questioned, including the wounded teenager.
Fearing retaliations, religious leaders condemned the killings and urged calm. Both sides have refrained from blaming Muslim militants for the violence.
"Until authorities arrest the killers and disclose the motive, it's too early to say this attack was religiously motivated," said Syafi'i Ma'arif, leader of Indonesia's second largest non-political Muslim group Muhammadiyah.
"But I can say the Muslim community is shocked and deeply concerned about the inhumane killing of innocent students," he said, adding that the victims deserve justice.
Thoughthe President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, ordered police to track down the killers, Christian residents said yesterday they were afraid to leave their homes. "We are really scared," said Noldi, who lives in the same village as the three murdered schoolgirls. "For the time being, we're spending all day and night inside."
The injured girl, who was in stable condition at a police hospital yesterday, said six assailants wearing black veils carried out the attack as the students walked through a cocoa plantation on their way to school just outside of Poso, reported the provincial police chief Colonel Oegroseno.
The heads of the three victims were found several miles from their bodies. Two were left near a police station and another in front of a newly built Christian church.
The Vatican called the beheadings "barbaric" and said Pope Benedict XVI was praying for renewed peace in the region.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation. Most of the country's more than 190 million Muslims practice a tolerant version of the faith, but hardline groups are increasingly making inroads.
In recent months, the country's highest Islamic body has issued a fatwa condemning liberal Islamic thought and radical groups have stepped up campaigns to prevent the country's Christian minority building more churches.
Central Sulawesi, which has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians, was the scene of a bloody sectarian war in 2001-2002 that killed around 1,000 people from both communities.
A government-mediated truce succeeded in ending the conflict in early 2002, though the violence never stopped completely.
A blast at a market in Poso killed 22 people, mostly Christians, in May and a bomb attack on a minivan carrying 11 Christian passengers last week injured one.
|
hr size=15 color=red>
|
Security patrols to prevent beheading revenge attacks, please pray
HUNDREDS of security forces patrolled tense streets in the Indonesian province of central Sulawesi yesterday to prevent revenge attacks after assailants wearing black veils beheaded three Christian schoolgirls and seriously wounded a fourth.
National police spokesman Major-General Aryanto Budihardjo said the murders were carried out by "terrorists" seeking to destabilise the area, which has long been plagued by violence between Muslims and Christians. He said it was no coincidence the attack occurred just days before the biggest holiday on the Islamic calendar.
More than 1,500 soldiers and police armed with assault rifles patrolled the town of Poso yesterday, as Muslims flocked to markets to prepare for Eid al-Fitr, which takes place on Thursday and Friday.
"The people who carried out this terrorist act hoped to spark a new cycle of violence just as relations between Muslim and Christian communities are improving," Maj-Gen Budihardjo said. So far no arrests have been made and there are no key suspects, he said. Only six people have been questioned, including the wounded teenager.
Fearing retaliations, religious leaders condemned the killings and urged calm. Both sides have refrained from blaming Muslim militants for the violence.
"Until authorities arrest the killers and disclose the motive, it's too early to say this attack was religiously motivated," said Syafi'i Ma'arif, leader of Indonesia's second largest non-political Muslim group Muhammadiyah.
"But I can say the Muslim community is shocked and deeply concerned about the inhumane killing of innocent students," he said, adding that the victims deserve justice.
Thoughthe President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, ordered police to track down the killers, Christian residents said yesterday they were afraid to leave their homes. "We are really scared," said Noldi, who lives in the same village as the three murdered schoolgirls. "For the time being, we're spending all day and night inside."
The injured girl, who was in stable condition at a police hospital yesterday, said six assailants wearing black veils carried out the attack as the students walked through a cocoa plantation on their way to school just outside of Poso, reported the provincial police chief Colonel Oegroseno.
The heads of the three victims were found several miles from their bodies. Two were left near a police station and another in front of a newly built Christian church.
The Vatican called the beheadings "barbaric" and said Pope Benedict XVI was praying for renewed peace in the region.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation. Most of the country's more than 190 million Muslims practice a tolerant version of the faith, but hardline groups are increasingly making inroads.
In recent months, the country's highest Islamic body has issued a fatwa condemning liberal Islamic thought and radical groups have stepped up campaigns to prevent the country's Christian minority building more churches.
Central Sulawesi, which has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians, was the scene of a bloody sectarian war in 2001-2002 that killed around 1,000 people from both communities.
A government-mediated truce succeeded in ending the conflict in early 2002, though the violence never stopped completely.
A blast at a market in Poso killed 22 people, mostly Christians, in May and a bomb attack on a minivan carrying 11 Christian passengers last week injured one.
|
hr size=15 color=red>
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
