While we are most definitely [u]not[/u] waging a religious war against Islam in Afghanistan, can the Islamic World ('Islamdom', if you please) say the same thing about itself?
[size=4]Christians terrorized
in Muslim Indonesia[/size=4]
[b]Islamic militants praising bin Laden promise believers 'bloody December'[/b]
By Art Moore © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
Thousands of Islamic militants with apparent ties to Osama bin Laden are terrorizing Christians in central Indonesia, according to religious advocacy groups.
More than 50,000 Christians in the Central Sulawesi province town of Tentena are in imminent danger of attack by a paramilitary group called Laskar Jihad.
The jihad fighters' intention? To completely eliminate Christians from the region, said Steven Snyder, who took a survey trip to the area in late November. Snyder is president of Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern.
About 15,000 Laskar Jihad troops equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and bulldozers are in the region, said Snyder. "If they all gather to attack, there is going to be a bloodbath."
At least 600 homes and six churches were burned during the Nov. 26-29 attacks, according to local sources reporting to the Voice of the Martyrs, an Oklahoma-based group that monitors persecution against Christians. The largest church in the coastal town of Poso, north of Tentena, was bombed and burned during the onslaught, and 15,000 Christians reportedly fled the area, VOM said. About 28,000 of the Christians under threat in Tentena are refugees who fled their homes in Poso, according to ICC's Snyder.
Laskar Jihad's leader, Ja'far Umar Thalib, wants to make Indonesia an Islamic state. In pursuance of that utopian goal, [b]the movement waged a violent campaign against Christians in neighboring Maluku province, where at least 9,000 people have been killed since 1999[/b].
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, with more than 180 million. A minority supports the radical Islamic parties that share the aim of converting the nation into an Islamic state, analysts say.
Laskar Jihad openly collects money on street corners in Indonesia for "jihad," the Compass Direct news service reported. Eyewitnesses say the group is collecting funds on the island of Java, the country's most populous, claiming – ironically – that Christians are raping Muslim women in Poso and have declared holy war on all Muslims.
Although Laskar Jihad's website insists attacks on Muslims are being organized by Christian priests, Sulawesi's Roman Catholic Bishop Josef Suwatan dismisses the claims as propaganda, say news reports. [b]Some Christians, lacking protection from authorities, have organized militia to defend themselves, said Snyder, but they often are armed only with homemade rifles and bows and arrows[/b].
The Indonesian government has promised to send fresh military troops to the Poso region.
Last Wednesday, top security officials from the Indonesian capital Jakarta toured the area to assess whether martial law should be declared. During the visit, police spokesman Lt. Col. Agus Sugianto denied that Laskar Jihad is behind renewed violence in the area. In the past two years, about 1,000 people have died during fighting between Muslim and Christian villagers on Sulawesi island.
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