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Barinthus
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A Magical Moment...
Jan 2004
time: 21:36
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I don't know about you folks but I'm glad to see Arab Muslims speaking out against terrorism being carried out by fellow Muslims.
IIRC Qatar is a kingdom that has been undergoing democratic reforms, correct?
quote:
Shadowy group claims attack as Qatar denounces terror
Mon Mar 21,10:49 AM ET
Mideast - AFP
DOHA (AFP) - Thousands of Qataris and expatriates rallied at the site of an unprecedented bombing near a British school, claimed by a shadowy group, that has sent shockwaves around the gas-rich state.
As a probe continued into the blast which killed a Briton and wounded 12 at a theater linked to the school late Saturday, French embassy sources said a team of French experts had arrived in Doha to help in the investigation.
Authorities have said the attack was carried out by an Egyptian resident, Omar Ahmad Abdullah Ali, who blew up his own, booby-trapped car, in a suicide bombing.
It was the first time Qatar, home to the US Central Command and the operational base for the US-led war on Iraq in 2003, has been the site of such an attack against a Western target.
So far, only a shadowy group calling itself "Jund al-Sham Organization," (or Organization of Soldiers of the Levant), has claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement on an Islamist website whose authenticity could not be verified.
The strike has caused anxiety in an emirate that was previously seen as a peaceful spot in an increasingly restive region and now plays host to thousands of foreign residents and growing number of tourists.
Many Western, Asian and Arab residents carrying Qatari flags were among some 3,000 people who gathered amid tight security at the site of the blast to denounce the attack.
"No to terrorism," "Progress and security, whether the cowards like it or not," read some of the banners raised by the demonstrators.
Sons of Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, government ministers, Muslim clerics and other prominent figures joined the rally.
"I am angry and shocked, because we have been used to coexistence among people from various parts of the world here in Qatar... What happened is against Islam," said Hammad Saleh, a 52-year-old Qatari.
Some analysts here have linked the attack, similar to those carried out by the Al-Qaeda terror network in Western and Arab countries such as neighboring Saudi Arabia, to Doha's pro-American policies.
Attorney Najib Mohammad al-Nuaimi, a former Qatari justice minister, said "the presence of American bases in Qatar, the anniversary of the war on Iraq and the visit of Israeli deputy education minister" Michael Melchior to the Gulf state in February "are reasons enough to justify the incident".
But newspapers said the attack would not sway Qatar, which is spending billions of dollars on gas projects and other plans to boost its economic status in the oil-rich Gulf region.
"The light radiating from Qatar's marvelous march has upset the bats used to living in the darkness," said the daily Asharq in a front-page editorial.
And if the masterminds of the attack were motivated by "religious beliefs, those beliefs are totally alien to our religion (Islam)," the newspaper said.
Muslim scholars joined in the chorus of condemnation, with Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, an influential Egyptian-born hardline cleric based in Qatar, saying the attack was an act "not permitted either by religion or norms."
The attack "was an act of ultimate stupidity," newspapers quoted another cleric, Sheikh Mustafa al-Sairafi, as saying.
A spokesman for the Egyptian community in Qatar, Hussam Gaber, also spoke to the press to dissociate the community from the attack, saying it was aimed at "trying to destabilize a society known as an oasis of peace and security."
"Such criminal actions targeting innocent people -- children, women, theater-goers -- are the work of a deviant and deluded group, whose adherents believe they have been entrusted by God Almighty to kill non-Muslim foreigners," wrote the daily Al-Watan.
The bombing came two days after an audiotape attributed to Al-Qaeda's Saudi chief, Saleh al-Oufi, and posted on an Islamist website called on the "brethren" in Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries neighboring Iraq to strike "crusader" targets on their territory.
Many Westerners living here said they were wary in the wake of the attack but would remain in the country. |
Last edited by Barinthus on 22-03-2005 at 11:46
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Apolyton Time is 00:36. |
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22-03-2005 11:38
Does this mean you'll finally leave adult discussions for the adults to discuss? 
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