Monks call on UN to stop 'violence against Buddhists'

bdnews24.com, Mar 8 2010

 

Dhaka, Bangladesh -- A group of Bangladeshi Buddhist monks demonstrated Friday in front of the UN mission in Bangkok seeking its intervention in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

 

"We would like to request the United Nations to press the Bangladesh prime minister to end the military operation on Jumma indigenous people and stop the campaign to grab our land."

 

The protesting monks termed the recent violence in the hills as "attacks on the Buddhist community" perpetrated by the Bengali settlers and the Bangladesh military, the Radio Australia (ABC) reported.

 

The report quoted the monks as saying that the attacks in late February left at least two people dead, dozens injured, and still more missing after a village was set ablaze.

 

Speaking at the demonstration, Arjun Chakma, a member of the Bangladesh Jumma Buddhist Forum, said the Baghaichhari massacre occurred between February 19 and 23.

 

"The whole village was burned down by the military and Bangladeshi settlers."

 

He showed reporters photographs of a scene of the attack in which a village was burnt down. He also claimed that a Buddha statue given to the community by Thailand was destroyed but his claim could not be independently verified.

 

Amnesty International, a human rights group, has called on the Bangladesh government to launch an independent investigation into the attacks.

 

The AI said that although government officials confirmed two deaths, local people claimed that at least eight indigenous people were killed and their bodies hidden away.

 

 

 

Dutch Anti-Islam Politician Creates Stir in UK

Friday March 5, 2010

 

LONDON - Dutch anti-Islam maverick Geert Wilders took his cinematic assault on the Quran to Britain's House of Lords on Friday, sparking heated debate inside the chamber and angry protests outside.

 

The invitation to London, and Wilders' stunning political gains in the Netherlands this week, highlight a growing dichotomy in Europe: concern at the increasing number of Muslims who reject long-cherished liberal values, against the liberal tradition of welcoming the world's unfortunates and embracing multiculturalism.

 

Wilders screened his 15-minute film "Fitna" to about 60 people, including a half-dozen peers, in a wood-paneled committee room in Parliament. The film associates the Quran with terrorism, homophobia and repression of women.

 

Outside, about 200 protesters jeered and chanted "Fascist thugs off our streets." Police scuffled with several demonstrators who tried to block a street to prevent a demonstration of pro-Wilders activists from the English Defense League from approaching Parliament.

 

The bleach-blond politician later held court for the British media, replete with quotes from Thomas Jefferson, George Orwell and references to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

 

"I believe Islam is a violent and dangerous religion - but I have nothing against Muslims," he told reporters. Nevertheless, he said he wanted a Europe-wide ban on Muslim immigrants because "I believe they bring along a fascist ideology."

 

The visit, and the controversy surrounding it, added to Wilders' visibility as he heads into a national election campaign with his popularity soaring and polls predicting that his come-from-nowhere Freedom Party will be among the two largest in the next Dutch parliament.

 

His party scored well in local elections this week, winning one city outright and placing second in another. But his 4-year-old party lacks a national organization, and it declined to field candidates in nearly 400 other town hall races.

 

Wilders said he might even become prime minister after the June 9 election, although Dutch political analysts say it is unlikely he could garner a majority coalition if his party emerged as the largest.

 

The 46-year-old lawmaker said that if he came to power he would create a Dutch equivalent to the First Amendment - as well as closing all Muslim schools, forbidding the construction of any new mosque and banning the Quran, which he described as more dangerous than Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf. The Prophet Muhammad, he said, "was a barbarian and a pedophile."

 

The intemperate language - heard in Britain only on obscure reaches of the extreme right - made even his hosts uncomfortable.

 

"I don't necessarily believe that," said Lord Pearson, the leader of Britain's U.K. Independence Party, a fringe group defined principally by its opposition to the European Union.

 

Wilders describes himself as a libertarian and rejects comparisons with right-wing European politicians such as Jorg Haider in Austria and Jean-Marie Le Pen in France. His special blend of traditional Dutch tolerance and anti-Islamic rhetoric defies easy categorization, and others throughout Europe have taken note of his success.

 

The English Defense League - a newly formed, self-described "counter-jihad" movement with reported links to the U.K. far-right - has mimicked Wielder's relentless focus on Islam.

 

France's immigration minister in November launched a series of "national identity debates" that stirred up anti-immigrant, and sometimes anti-Islam, sentiment that alarmed some in the mainstream. France's conservative government is also moving toward banning face-covering Islamic veils.

 

In Denmark, discontent about immigration fueled the rise of the nationalist Danish People's Party, whose leaders regularly bash Islam and urge Muslim immigrants to adopt Danish values and culture. The party won 25 of 175 seats in Parliament in the last election in 2007, making it Denmark's third biggest political party. It has used its leverage with the center-right minority government to push through sharp restrictions on immigration.

 

Outside the British Parliament, protesters calling themselves antifascists denounced Wilders and his backers of the English League as racists.

 

Jack Kavanagh, one of the people wrestled out of the crowd by police, expressed scorn for Wilders, calling his movie "racist tripe."

 

Across the way, 70-year-old retiree Ian Birchall said the English League was composed of "a particularly unpleasant bunch of racists" intent on setting Britons against the country's approximately 2 million strong Muslim community.

 

Back in the Netherlands, Wilders' outspoken attacks on Islam have brought charges against him for "hate speech," a little-enforced crime subject to a maximum one-year jail sentence and fine. He appealed to have the case dismissed, saying his remarks were not against Muslims but rather against Islam, and were protected by freedom of speech. Last month the court ruled against the objection, but is yet to set a trial date.

 

He has been under permanent police protection since his life was threatened in 2004 by the Muslim radical who killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh. His name was in a note pegged with a knife to van Gogh's lifeless chest.

 

 

 

 

Egyptian Court Acquits Muslim Who Beheaded a Christian

Posted GMT 3-4-2010 3:56:42

(AINA) -- An Egyptian court in the southern city of Assuit acquitted this week four Muslims accused of killing 61-year-old Farouk Attallah on October 19, 2009. In broad daylight and in full view of witnesses, the killers fired 31 bullets to his head before beheading him, in the busy village market place of Attaleen, near Dairout, 313 kilometers south of Cairo. The dead body was then dragged in the street, accompanied by shouts of victory. Free Copts website published a video of the disfigured body (warning, violent graphic content: video).

 

The judge presiding over the court on February 22, said that he was not satisfied that the testimony of the witnesses established that the imprisoned men were the killers. After the acquittal of Mohamad, Ashraf, Osama and Ahmad Hassouna, there was jubilation in the court room, with shouts of 'Allah is Great' and congratulations from all Muslims, including members of the state security forces who were present.

 

Christians were enraged over the acquittal, since similar cases would result in life imprisonment or execution for a Copt if the victim was a Muslim.

 

The verdict came as another wake-up call to many Copts, according to Peter Sarwat, the plaintiff's attorney. "It sends a clear message that Coptic blood is extremely cheap." he told Mariam Ragy of Katiba Tibia Coptic site. "This acquittal will make permanent the present culture of impunity enjoyed by Muslim aggressors against Copts.".

 

Sarwat said the ruling was inadequate, as it acquitted the accused but did not say who the perpetrators are. "If these men did not kill, so who killed? The ruling should have referred the case to the general prosecution to present the perpetrators."

 

The Court based its ruling on quasi non existent proof, as well as the absence of "positive evidence" testimony versus the presence of "negative evidence" testimony. "The judge refused to take into consideration the testimonies of the dead man's daughter who said she only saw one killer and not four, as well as the testimony of the Muslim man who was wounded in the shootings," said Sarwat. According to media reports, most people who witnessed the shootings in the market place refused to come forward for fear of vengeance from the assailants' family. There were false witnesses who confirmed that the killers were present at work.

 

"It is not enough to get a conviction based only on police reports which are full of legal loopholes and weak prosecution investigations," said Sarwat. Legal observers have always claimed that the police purposely deliver to prosecution reports full of inadequacies and loopholes, thereby getting from the courts acquittals for Muslims.

 

What prompted the killing of Farouk Attallah was an alleged illicit sexual relationship between his son Romany and a local Muslim girl, Hagger Hassouna. A rumor that intimate photos of Hagger together with her lover Romany were circulating on cell phones in Dairout lead four members of the Hassona family to kill Romany's father, after failing to locate his son, who had fled.

 

Besides the killing of Farouk Attallah, the arrest of the Hassouna perpetrators sparked on October 24, 2009, Muslim riots and collective punishment against all Copts in Dairout. Christian-owned shops, pharmacies, and homes were looted and burned (AINA 10-27-2009).

 

Although several hundreds Muslims participated in those riots, the police only detained 19, and these were acquitted on December 13, 2009 because of the lack of eyewitnesses and conflicting statements between the accused and the victims.

 

The majority of Copts believe the reason for the acquittal of Muslims is that although Egypt claims to be a secular state, in reality it applies the Sharia law which dictates .that a Muslim who kills a non-Muslim must not be killed, because it is not reasonable to equate a Muslim with a "polytheist" (a Christian).

 

Commenting on the acquittal, Dr. Naguib Gobraeel, President of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, said: "What is the solution? The same happened with regards to Al-Kosheh Massacre [21 Copts were slaughtered in 2000 and not one Muslim was indicted], the attack on the Copts in Alexandria were blamed on a mentally unstable person; even the assailant who beheaded Abdo Goerge Younan in Menoufiah is now in a mental hospital [AINA 9-21-2009]. Heavenly Justice is our last resourt." He stated that he will appeal this week's verdict.

 

The victim's family was greatly shocked and saddened by the acquittal. "In spite of the blood of their slain family head filling the street, the Muslim killers got away literally with murder," Sarwat said "It just shows how cheap Coptic blood can be."

 

Sarwat asserted that he will appeal the ruling. "We cannot remain silent over this verdict as it has very serious implications for all Copts in Egypt." He added: "It is not safe for Copts now, as any Muslims who wants to get rid of a Copt, would kill him, knowing well that in the end he will be acquitted."

 

 

 

 

Attacks in Nigeria left 500 dead: reports

Last Updated: Monday, March 8, 2010 | 11:58 AM ET

CBC News

 

A victim lies in hospital after surviving inter-faith violence in the town of Dogo Nahawa, Nigeria, about five kilometres south of the city of Jos, on Sunday.A victim lies in hospital after surviving inter-faith violence in the town of Dogo Nahawa, Nigeria, about five kilometres south of the city of Jos, on Sunday. (NTA TV/Associated Press)

 

Nigerian officials say close to 500 people may have been killed in weekend sectarian violence near the central city of Jos, not the 200 first reported.

 

Witnesses said gangs armed with guns and machetes rampaged through three mostly Christian villages, firing shots to draw people from their homes and then running them down and killing them.

 

Yemi Kosoko, a reporter with the independent Nigerian news network Channels, told The Associated Press most of the bodies appeared to be women and children killed by blows from machetes.

 

Plateau state spokesman Gregory Yenlong told the New York Times the number of dead was about 500, while Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, told the Bloomberg new agency that 492 people died.

 

One aid worker said Monday it was difficult to tell how many people had been killed because some bodies were charred beyond recognition.

 

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with an estimated population of close to 150 million, has had a long history of both ethnic and religious violence.

 

The attack occurred in a middle belt between the predominately Muslim north and the Christian south, where sectarian violence has been recurring. More than 300 residents died during a similar uprising in 2008.

 

The attack was an apparent reprisal for similar attacks on Muslims in January.

Curfew in effect

 

A strict curfew has been in place since the January violence. It is unclear how the attackers managed to elude the military curfew early Sunday.

 

Acting president Goodluck Jonathan said additional security forces would be stationed along the central Nigerian state's borders to keep outsiders from bringing more fighters and weapons to the region.

 

"[We will] undertake strategic initiatives to confront and defeat these roving bands of killers," he said in a statement.

 

"While it is too early to state categorically what is responsible for this renewed wave of violence, we want to inform Nigerians that the security services are on top of the situation."

 

 

 

 

US scores diplomatic win as PLO agrees to indirect talks with Israel

Palestinians will press for freeze on settlement growth

 

By Dalia Nammari, Associated Press  |  March 8, 2010

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank - A skeptical Palestinian leadership agreed yesterday to hold indirect peace talks with Israel for four months, with the United States acting as a mediator. The decision effectively ends a 14-month breakdown in communications between the two sides.

 

The development marks a first achievement in more than a year for US diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian arena and a softening in the position of the Palestinian leadership, which has insisted it would not begin talks unless Israel fully froze construction in its settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

 

The indirect format is meant to give the Palestinians the necessary political cover to resume talks. However, they warned they would walk away if the outlines of a border deal with Israel have not emerged after four months. They also ruled out subsequent direct talks without a complete Israeli settlement construction freeze.

 

“This peace process cannot go on forever,’’ said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. “Now it’s time for decisions.’’

 

The decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization to resume talks came a day before Vice President Joseph Biden is to begin the highest-level visit to the area by an Obama administration official.

 

Israel accepted the indirect talks last week.

 

Erekat said he did not know when the talks would begin. They are expected to be held with the help of the US Mideast envoy, George Mitchell.

 

Mitchell, who has made numerous trips to the region over the past year with few signs of progress, was back yesterday, presumably to wrap up preparations for negotiations. The talks will involve shuttling back and forth between the offices of the Israeli government in Jerusalem and the Palestinian government in Ramallah a half hour away.

 

Ahead of a meeting with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mitchell said the goal was a “credible, serious, constructive process that will accomplish the objective which we all share: a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.’’

 

Netanyahu said he hoped direct negotiations would begin soon.

 

Mitchell was scheduled to meet the Israeli leader again today, and also meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

 

Netanyahu welcomed the prospect of negotiations but staked out tougher positions than his predecessor, refusing to consider a partition of Jerusalem and insisting on keeping key areas of the West Bank.

 

Netanyahu has also resisted a complete settlement construction freeze, agreeing only to curb construction in the West Bank for 10 months, but not in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital.

 

In a related development yesterday, Netanyahu approved compensation for Israelis hurt financially by the partial settlement freeze, his office said. The government said contractors and people who have bought homes in the West Bank would be eligible, but gave no figures.

 

The Palestinians broke off the talks when Israel launched its bruising offensive in the Gaza Strip in December 2008, aimed at stopping years of rocket attacks on Israeli towns.

 

Israel’s rejection of Abbas’s condition of a complete settlement construction freeze for renewal of talks put Abbas in a bind.

 

He didn’t want to stymie US efforts to relaunch talks, but backing down would hurt his standing by making him seem weak.

 

He also had to consider the populist appeal of his rivals, the Hamas militants who overran Gaza in 2007 and advocate armed confrontation against Israel.

 

The concept of indirect talks gave him a way to sidestep the dilemma. Last week, the Arab League endorsed the idea of four months of US-mediated talks, giving him the backing of the Arab world - and a cover should the talks fail.

 

 

 

 

Israel approves West Bank construction

 

March 8, 2010

 

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel's Ministry of Defense authorized the construction of new apartments in a West Bank settlement despite a construction freeze.

 

The authorization of 112 new apartments in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit, announced Monday, came a day after the Palestinian Liberation Organization agreed to enter into U.S.-brokered indirect peace negotiations with Israel. The Palestinians had insisted they would not re-enter peace negotiations without a cessation of building in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

 

The exception to the 10-month freeze, which began in November, was made for "safety" reasons, the Ministry of Defense said, according to Haaretz. A Defense Ministry statement said the building would close a dangerous 40-yard gap between two existing buildings, according to the BBC.

 

The permits had been issued under the previous government of Ehud Olmert, before the settlement freeze was announced.

 

The announcement of the housing construction came hours before U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to land in Israel in part to advance the peace process.

 

 

 

 

Taliban, rival militants battle

Afghan groups clash in north; around 50 dead

 

By Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post  |  March 8, 2010

 

KABUL, Afghanistan - Fierce weekend fighting in the north of Afghanistan between Taliban forces and another militant Islamist group has left an estimated 50 people dead, and the clashes were continuing late last night, according to reports from the area.

 

Local news reports quoted government and security officials from Baghlan Province saying fighting erupted Saturday between the Taliban and fighters of the Hezb-e-Islami, a guerrilla faction under the command of longtime militia leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The Afghan government has limited reach in the area where the clashes are occurring, and details about the reason behind the fighting remained sketchy. It was unclear whether this was an isolated clash or represented a break in the ranks of the allied militia groups that have been posing a challenge to the government of President Hamid Karzai.

 

News agency reports and Afghan media said the two sides were firing heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades. Government officials gave the death toll at around 50 on both sides, but different officials gave wildly different breakdowns of the casualties.

 

The Associated Press quoted a provincial police chief as saying more than 100 Hezb-e-Islami fighters pledged to switch sides and join government troops.

 

The Afghan website Quqnoos.com, run by the Tolo television station, called the clashes the deadliest in years between the militia groups, which had been in a strategic alliance opposed to Karzai’s Western-backed government.

 

Both groups had been demanding a withdrawal of American and other foreign forces from Afghanistan as a prelude to any reconciliation talks with the Karzai government. But Hekmatyar, with a history of switching sides, was considered more susceptible to peace overtures.

 

After battling invading Soviet forces, Hekmatyar alternately allied himself with and fought against almost every major faction in Afghanistan; he spent the years of Taliban control living in exile in Iran while his militia splintered. After US troops ousted the Taliban in 2001, Hekmatyar called for a “jihad’’ against foreign forces and formed a new alliance with Taliban insurgents.

 

Hekmatyar has been blamed for several attacks against American and NATO troops, and the US government has designated him a terrorist because of his alleged links to both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It remains unclear how the United States would react to any attempt to lure Hekmatyar out of the fighting by offering him a role in the government.

 

News of the clashes in the north came as Karzai made an official visit to the former Taliban stronghold of Marja, in Helmand province, which has been the scene of a major offensive by American and Afghan troops.

 

Karzai, accompanied by General Stanley McChrystal, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, spoke to about 300 tribal and village elders in a mosque and asked for their support to prevent a Taliban return to the area. Karzai has been criticized for remaining isolated in Kabul and not venturing out into the countryside, particularly in volatile areas.

 

“Are you with me or against me?’’ Karzai asked in Marja, prompting the elders to raise their hands in the air and shout, “We are with you!’’ and “We are supporting you!’’ according to pool reporters at the scene.

 

Despite the pledges of support, however, the elders peppered Karzai with questions and complaints about the ongoing military operation. Some were upset that some civilians, who they said were not connected to the Taliban, were being detained by US forces. Others complained that foreign troops had taken over schools and other facilities to use as bases.

 

The elders also claimed that Afghan troops looted their shops during the battle to retake the town, and they repeated a common Afghan complaint about high levels of corruption in the Afghan government.

 

Violent clashes between antigovernment factions in Afghanistan are rare, although power struggles among loosely allied insurgent groups are fairly common.

 

The fighting centered around five to six villages west of Baghlan-e-Jadid district in the central part of the province.

 

 

 

 

Ignatieff reaching out to Christian community

 

By Lloyd Mackey

 

THE LEADER of Canada's official opposition has been striving to cultivate better communication with people of faith.

 

For close to a year, John McKay -- a Toronto-area Liberal MP with longstanding evangelical Christian connections -- has been acting as Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's entrŽe into various sectors of the Canadian Christian community.

 

And he told CC.com that he is "encouraged and delighted with the reception I have received."

 

But he also cautioned that it is almost impossible to know whether there will be a direct "political payoff" to the Liberals, growing out of his efforts. There used to be, he acknowledged, but "today is a different era." It will be awhile -- perhaps an election or two -- before the party will know for sure.

 

McKay received the assignment directly from Ignatieff last spring, shortly after the former Harvard professor assumed the Liberal leadership.

 

Ignatieff has an eclectic religious background: Russian Orthodox on one side of the family, and direct descent from Presbyterian cleric stalwart George Grant on the other. Generally, however, he counts himself as an occasional "but not very churchy" attender at worship.

 

On coming into the Liberal leadership, however, he recognized that, in the past few decades, some of his party members had become increasingly derisive of evangelical Christians -- and, to a lesser extent, Roman Catholics. That vitriol was especially directed at Christian politicians with Conservative or Reform party connections. Leaders like Stockwell Day were described as "scary," especially with respect to their pro-life or pro-creationist viewpoints.

 

The apparent result was that evangelical support for Liberals had been waning, particularly in Ontario. It was falling dramatically from the days when now-senator David Smith managed the federal Liberal backrooms. Smith, a serious Baptist with many family links to Pentecostalism, networked heavily with his fellow believers.

 

He often identified Liberal candidates capable of attracting evangelical voters in swing ridings, where evangelicals might make up 10 percent of the voter profile. Smith and the late John Munro, a former key Hamilton area Liberal cabinet minister, worked the network; they built helpful friendships with people such as evangelical television host David Mainse.

 

In more recent years, aware of the apparent Liberal cynicism regarding evangelical beliefs, Mainse had quietly shifted his encouragement toward Conservative candidates, if they showed they understood or were willing to listen to the evangelical community.

The decline in the number of Liberal federal seats in rural and small-city Ontario could be traced, statistically, to the favour with which evangelicals were viewing the Conservatives. That happened especially after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties.

 

While Catholic voters always leaned Liberal, even those figures were declining in more recent years.

 

In McKay, Ignatieff believed he had a good antidote to those declining trends. A Toronto lawyer, now in his early 60s, McKay had been influential in the founding of the Christian Legal Fellowship in Canada. A stalwart at Spring Garden Baptist Church, a strong congregation in the Willowdale area of Toronto, he was well able to articulate both socially and fiscally conservative views. And he also communicated an understanding of the biblical concepts supporting those views.

 

While articulating strongly why he believes evangelical and Catholic Christians should be supportive of the federal Liberals, McKay took care not to be corrosively critical of the Conservatives. He did caution, however, that what he sees as the current Conservative penchant to "lock up the pro-Israel and evangelical votes," as heading in a "dangerous" direction.

 

Regarding recent experiences in meeting with Christian leaders -- with or without his leader -- McKay talked about some pleasant "surprises" in the process. He did so while pointing out that, at this stage, he needs to protect the confidentiality of many of the conversations.

 

In Edmonton, he found that a group of ministers with which he met were interested in immigration and refugee determination issues -- something that he would not have expected to be the case in Alberta.

 

In Winnipeg, he met with leaders and faculty members at Booth College, a Salvation Army institution. He was told of a sense of disappointment on the part of the educators, that they heard so seldom from members of parliament -- from any party.

 

Of all Christians, Salvationists have something significant to say about poverty and justice, McKay pointed out.

 

In Vancouver, the main concern was for social housing -- something that has been on McKay's radar since the late 90s, when he was first elected to Parliament.

 

An interesting challenge for McKay has been to build networks with Christians who are unhappy with Ignatieff's insistence that maternal and child health in less developed countries should include support for abortion and contraception.

 

As a pro-life Liberal, McKay would be most hesitant to back Ignatieff on that matter -- although some of his caucus colleagues would take quite an opposite stance.

 

He emphasized that "I made my own opinions abundantly clear to my leader," after Ignatieff's pro-abortion announcement -- which was made following a Liberal roundtable on international development, during the parliamentary prorogation period.

 

Earlier reports had indicated that Liberal strategists had recommended Ignatieff take a pro-abortion stance as a means of establishing a wedge issue among Conservatives.

 

All that considered, McKay said he has been enjoying the challenge of networking on these faith-political issues -- and so, apparently, has Ignatieff. "He enjoys listening and he enjoys the interactions. And he takes notes."

 

That last point had been made by one of the west coast clerics with whom they met. And that seemed to make a good impression, McKay recalled.

 

"The pastor told me that if someone will not take notes, he (the pastor) won't express his views."

 

 

 

 

Seven suspected Islamic militants killed in Philippines (Roundup)

 

Mar 7, 2010, 5:58 GMT

 

Zamboanga City, Philippines - Seven suspected Islamic militants were killed Sunday in a clash with government troops in the southern Philippines, the military said.

 

One Marine was also wounded when troops raided an encampment of suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels before dawn in Siasi town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

 

Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino, a regional military commander, said troops recovered 15 automatic rifles and four rifle grenades after the fighting.

 

He said the slain guerrillas were five males and two females.

 

Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero, an anti-terrorism task force commander, said the slain suspects were believed to be members of a terrorist cell operated by a Malaysian militant.

 

He said authorities were determining whether Malaysian Zulkipli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, a leader of the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, was among those who escaped.

 

'We are also still identifying the dead,' he added.

 

Two weeks ago, government troops killed influential Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad and six of his men during a clash in nearby Maimbung town.

 

Government troops have been conducting military operations against the guerrillas who have been blamed for deadly terrorist attacks and high-profile kidnappings in the country.

 

 

 

 

Ancient Cairo synagogue reopened

 

March 8, 2010

 

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A synagogue in the ancient Jewish quarter of Cairo opened after a two-year government-sponsored restoration.

 

The 19th century Synagogue of Maimonides was reopened Sunday in the presence of Israeli and U.S. ambassadors and other officials, including rabbis.

 

No Egyptian officials were in attendance at the ceremony, according to the French news agency AFP. Culture Minister Faruq Hosni told AFP that was because Sunday's opening was a religious ceremony. Egyptian officials are scheduled to attend a formal ceremony to be held March 14.

 

The $2 million synagogue restoration undertaken by the Egyptian government took 18 months. It is expected to be a tourist attraction.

 

The synagogue, named after the 12th-century Jewish scholar Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides, is built over the site where he was buried for a short time before his remains were moved to Tiberias in Israel.

 

Egypt began restoring its Jewish sites several years ago; there are 11 synagogues in Egypt. Only a few dozen Jews remain in Egypt.