Date: 2012/07/16 - 12:24 source: shiitenews


[size=14pt]Shiite Genocide Continues; 16-year-old Shia Student Martyred by the Wahhabi Terrorists in Karachi[/size]

Turab Haider, 16, Sajjad Haider was kidnapped days ago by the terrorists of the banned pro Taliban group LeJ.

Shiite Genocide Continues; 16-year-old Shia Student Martyred by the Wahhabi Terrorists in Karachi

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - 16 years old Shia Muslim student who was kidnapped days ago from Jaffar-e-Tayyar has been beaten and killed by the banned Lashkar Jhangvi terrorist group.

According to received reports Turab Haider S/O Sajjad Haider was kidnapped days ago by the terrorists of the banned pro Taliban group LeJ. Turab Haider was a first year student.

According to the sources he has gotten 4 bullets and beaten till his death and his body found from the Malir Naddi today. Turab Haider also burned by the acid where he has done the mourning for Imam Hussain (A.S).

Turab Haider funeral prayer performed at Nad-e-Ali square in Jaffar-e-Tayyar.

/129

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=329362

fellis:

Muslims all over the world are being killed and persecuted but you made an entire thread for only the Shia.
Do you not care for the other Muslims as well?
No offense really, I wish you peace.

"Reports Of Persecution Targeting Muslims Around The World"
https://www.nairaland.com/991592/reports-persecution-targeting-muslims-around

and earlier LagosShia opened this:

"Persecution Of Muslims In The West"
https://www.nairaland.com/989706/persecution-muslims-west

Why do you say Lagosshia did this or did that when you are Lagosshia?
Or are you not him?
I always assumed you are Lagosshia using another handle.

fellis: Why do you say Lagosshia did this or did that when you are Lagosshia?
Or are you not him?
I always assumed you are Lagosshia using another handle.

"O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful".(49:12)

avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin

I never thought that assuming you are Lagosshia was a negative assumption. Many NLers have different handles and I don't really consider it a big deal.
Sorry if I said anything I wasn't supposed to.

Attacks across Iraq kill 107, injure hundreds

By Kareem Raheem

BAGHDAD | Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:09am EDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 107 people were killed in bomb and gun attacks in Iraq on Monday, a day after 20 died in explosions, in a coordinated surge of violence against mostly Shi'ite Muslim targets.


The bloodshed, which coincided with an intensifying of the conflict in neighboring Syria, pointed up the deficiencies of the Iraqi security forces, which failed to prevent insurgents from striking in multiple locations across the country.

As well as the scores of deaths, at least 268 people were wounded by bombings and shootings in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, the Shi'ite town of Taji to the north, the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul and many other places, hospital and police sources said, making it one of Iraq's bloodiest days in weeks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the wave of assaults but a senior Iraqi security official blamed the local wing of al Qaeda, made up of Sunni Muslim militants hostile to the Shi'ite-led government, which is friendly with Iran.

"Recent attacks are a clear message that al Qaeda in Iraq is determined to spark a bloody sectarian war," the official said, asking not to be named.

"With what's going on in Syria, these attacks should be taken seriously as a potential threat to our country. Al Qaeda is trying to push Iraq to the verge of Shi'ite-Sunni war," he said. "They want things to be as bad as in Syria."

Iraq, whose desert province of Anbar, a Sunni heartland, borders Syria, is nervous about the impact of the conflict in its neighbor where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting to end President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite-dominated rule.

The Iraqi government said on Monday it rejected Arab League calls for Assad to quit, saying it was for the Syrian people alone to decide his fate and others "should not interfere".

Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Doha earlier in the day offered Assad a "safe exit" if he stepped down swiftly.

Baghdad advocates reform in Syria, rather than endorsing calls by Sunni-ruled Gulf nations for Assad's removal.

The last two days of attacks in Iraq shattered a two-week lull in violence in the run-up to the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which Iraqis began observing on Saturday.

Sectarian slaughter peaked in 2006-2007 but deadly attacks have persisted while political tensions among Iraq's main Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions have increased since U.S. troops completed their withdrawal in December.

"I ask the government if security forces are capable of keeping control," a man named Ahmed Salim shouted angrily at the scene of a car bomb in Kirkuk. "With all these bloody bombs and innocent people killed, the government should reconsider its security plans," he told Reuters Television.

TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION

The security forces themselves were often the targets or victims of the assaults perpetrated across Iraq.

Gunmen using assault rifles and hand grenades killed at least 16 soldiers in an attack on an army post near Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, police and army sources said.

In Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad, six explosions, including a car bombing, occurred near a housing complex. A seventh blast there caused carnage among police who had arrived at the scene of the earlier ones. In all, 32 people were killed, including 14 police, with 48 wounded, 10 of the police.

Two car bombs struck near a government building in Sadr City, a vast, poor Shi'ite swathe of Baghdad, and in the mainly Shi'ite area of Hussainiya on the outskirts of the capital, killing a total of 21 people and wounding 73, police said.

Nine people, including six soldiers, were killed in attacks in the northern city of Mosul, police and army sources said.

In Kirkuk, five car bombs killed six people and wounded 17, while explosions and gun attacks on security checkpoints around the restive province of Diyala killed six people, including four soldiers and policemen, and wounded 30, police sources said.

Other deadly attacks occurred in the towns of Khan Bani Saad, Udhaim, Tuz Khurmato, Samarra and Dujail, all north of Baghdad, as well as in the southern city of Diwaniya.

The orchestrated spate of violence followed car bombs on Sunday in two towns south of Baghdad and in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf that killed 20 people and wounded 80.

Last month was one of the bloodiest since the U.S. withdrawal, with at least 237 people killed and 603 wounded.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took refuge in Syria from bloodshed that lasted for years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Last week the Iraqi government urged them to return home to escape the violence in Syria.

At least 80 buses laden with returning Iraqi refugees crossed the border last week, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is also worried about the longer-term implications if Assad falls and Syria's majority Sunnis overthrow the supremacy of the president's Alawite sect, which traces its roots to Shi'ite Islam.

A sectarian struggle for control in post-Assad Syria could raise tensions across the border and damage Iraq's chances of overcoming its own formidable security and political challenges.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/23/us-iraq-bomb-idUSBRE86M06M20120723

Iraq attacks on Shias and lawyers kill 19

(AFP) / 8 August 2012

A car bomb targeting Shia pilgrims in Iraq and the shooting of a lawyer and his family left 19 people dead on Wednesday, after Al Qaeda warned it would target lawyers and retake territory in a new campaign.

The attacks were the latest in an apparent spike in unrest since the beginning of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, bringing to 88 the number of people killed so far this month.

In the deadliest incident on Wednesday, a vehicle packed with explosives ripped through a group of Shia worshippers during a commemoration ceremony in Al Tanmiyah village, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

The 6:45 pm (1545 GMT) attack killed 11 people and wounded 20 others, according to a police lieutenant colonel and a medic, both of who declined to be identified. Most of the victims were men, the officials said.

It also sparked a large fire in a nearby market and damaged adjacent houses.

The gathering had been to mark the day Imam Ali, a central figure in Shia Islam and the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, was wounded, days before his eventual death in 661 AD.

The blast struck just before the iftar meal that breaks the daily fast Muslims engage in during Ramadan.

Earlier on Wednesday, gunmen shot dead a lawyer, his judicial investigator son and six of their family members in a town north of Baghdad.

The shooting took place at the home of Khayrallah Shati, a lawyer in the town of Baiji, 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of the capital, killing him, his wife, five sons and another relative who was staying with them.

‘Khayrallah Shati, his wife and five sons, and a family guest staying with them, were killed early this morning in Baiji,’ a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

‘Gunmen raided his house and opened fire on the family.... Initial reports are that this is a terrorist attack, but the investigation is still ongoing.’

The officer said one of Shati’s sons was a judicial investigator.

An official in the main hospital in Salaheddin provincial capital Tikrit said the facility received eight bodies — seven men and a woman — all with multiple gunshot wounds.

Al-Qaeda’s front group the Islamic State of Iraq said in July that it was launching a ‘new military campaign aimed at recovering territory.’

An earlier message posted on various jihadist forums said the ISI would begin targeting judges and prosecutors, and try to help its prisoners break out of jails.

The latest violence brings the number of people killed in attacks in Iraq this month to at least 88, including 47 security forces members, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources.

While violence has decreased from its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks remain common across Iraq. There were attacks on 27 of the 31 days in July.

Official figures put the number of people killed in attacks in July at 325, the highest monthly death toll since August 2010.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/August/middleeast_August121.xml&section=middleeast

Two injured in attack on Shia procession in Karachi

Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on a Shia procession in Karachi, injuring two people.


The incident happened on Friday evening, near Karachi’s Bolton Market, as the Youm-e-Ali procession passed through the area, Dawn News reported.

The martyrdom anniversary of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), also known as Youm-e-Ali, was observed on Friday, with religious processions being held across Pakistan amid strict security arrangements.

KA/HGL

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/255566.html

Pro-Taliban militants slaughter at least 25 Shia Muslims in Pakistan

Heavily armed pro-Taliban militants have shot dead at least 25 Shia Muslims at point blank range after pulling them off buses in northern Pakistan, officials say.


The incident took place in the hills of Babusar Top, around 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the capital Islamabad.

The buses had been traveling between Rawalpindi and mainly Shiite northern city of Gilgit.

"After checking [their] papers, [the attackers] opened fire," said Khalid Omarzai, the local administration chief in Mansehra.


Hundreds of Shia Muslims have been killed in various parts of the violence-hit country over the past few months.

The incidents of sectarian violence forced the government to deploy troops and impose a curfew in the northern towns of Gilgit-Baltistan some months ago.

Activists have urged the Pakistani government to represent the will of the Pakistani people by arresting those involved in the recent massacres and ending the curfew in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The country's Shia leaders have also called on the government to form a judicial commission to investigate the crimes.

The killing of Shias is to such extent that it has caused international outrage, with rights groups and regional countries, including Iran, expressing concern over the ongoing genocide.

Protests against the ongoing brutal massacre of innocent Shia Muslims in Pakistan have been held in countries across the world including the US, the UK, and Canada.

Local sources say thousands of Shia Muslims have been killed in various regions of the militancy-hit country over the past few years.

NK/SZH/JR/IS

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/16/256568/militants-slaughter-25-shias-in--pakistan/

UN leader ‘appalled’ by Mansehra sectarian killing

By AFP

Published: August 17, 2012

UNITED NATIONS: UN leader Ban Ki-moon was “appalled” by the sectarian killing of 20 Shias who were dragged off a bus in Pakistan on Thursday, his spokesman said.

“The secretary general expresses his outrage over such deliberate attacks on people due to their religious beliefs in Pakistan,” said a statement released by UN spokesman Martin Nesirky which strongly condemned the attack.

Gunmen dragged the Shiite travellers off a bus in the northwestern district of Mansehra and killed them at point blank range, officials said. It was the third attack of its kind in six months.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/423332/un-leader-appalled-by-mansehra-sectarian-killing/

....muslims can be funny atimes,while ops tries had to show the barbaric and inhuman killing of Shia muslims by fellow muslims(sunnis),i had thought the least other muslims wld do is to sympathize with the situatn for humanity sake and discuss a way out.Reaching out through their various sects,meet-ups group and pass the message of tolerance but rather the reverse is the case,his voice is about being suppressed!my bible tells me that we are equals in the sight of God,the death of anybody,be it muslim,christain,atheists,jews etc depletes humanity and saddens our heart!pls 'sunnis' share the message of love and tolerance! Muslims often shout about the oppression of muslims be it in Gaza and occupied lands but keeps mute in terms of internal tyrany and terrorism,with reference to Iran,Iraq,Afgan,Pakistan,syria etc!

Gunmen Kill Seven Shi'ites in Pakistan: Police

AGENCIES 37 min ago |

QUETTA - Gunmen shot dead seven Shiite Muslims in two separate incidents in Pakistan's troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan on Saturday, police said.
The incidents took place near Quetta, the capital of the oil and gas rich province, which is plagued by sectarian violence.

"Four gunmen riding two motorbikes, intercepted a bus near Hazarganji area, pulled five Shiite vegetable sellers off the vehicle and shot them dead," senior local police official Wazir Khan Nasir told AFP.

He said in a second incident, two motorbike riders sprayed bullets at two Shiites in Hazarganji area, on the outskirts of Quetta, killing both of them.

Another local police official Mukhtar Musakhel confirmed the incident and casualties.
Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks but the province suffers from Taliban attacks and is also a flashpoint for sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has left thousands of people dead since the late 1980s.

Baluch rebels also rose up in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the oil, gas and mineral resources in the region.

http://www.google.com/gwt/x?hl=en&u=http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/09/01/news/national/gunmen-kill-seven-shiites-in-pakistan-police/&client=ms-rim&q=seven+shiites+pakistan

Bombing kills 23 in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi


Pakistani police say the death toll from a bomb attack on Shia Muslims in the city of Rawalpindi reached 23 with over 60 others wounded.

Thu Nov 22, 2012 6:56AM

LAST UPDATE

The attack targeted a Shia procession commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH) in the Dhoke Syedan area of the city on Wednesday night. Eight children were also among the wounded.

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The militant group also claimed responsibility for another explosion on the same day that killed two people near a Shia mosque in the port city of Karachi.

“We carried out the attacks (on Wednesday) in Rawalpindi and Karachi,” said a Taliban spokesperson.

Pakistan’s pro-Taliban militants have been engaged in a violent campaign against Shia Muslims over the past years.

According to local sources, militants affiliated to Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist groups have killed thousands of Shia Muslims in the region since the start of the campaign. Hundreds of Shias have also been killed since the beginning of 2012.

The Shia leaders in Pakistan have called on the government to form a judicial commission to investigate the bloodshed.

The killing of Shias in Pakistan has also sparked international outrage, with rights groups and regional countries expressing concern over the ongoing carnage. Still, those behind the violence are rarely caught or punished.
MSH/HSN

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/22/273882/death-toll-reaches-23-in-pakistan-blast/


+++++++++++++++++++++++

Pakistani Shias hold funeral for victims of triple bombing

[img]http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20121122/khan20121122133406763.jpg[/img]
Pakistani Shia Muslims gather as coffins of bomb blast victims arrive for funeral prayers in Rawalpindi on November 22, 2012.

Thousands of Pakistanis hold funeral prayers for at least 36 Shia Muslims who were killed in coordinated serial bomb attacks across major cities of the militant-riddled country.

Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:37PM

The funeral ceremonies come a day after dozens of Shia Muslims were killed in three bomb attacks on religious gatherings in the southern port city of Karachi and the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Wednesday evening.

More than 100 people were also severely wounded in the deadly attacks. Medical sources say the death toll is expected to rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition.

Several religious and political figures attending the funeral demanded the Islamabad government to take serious steps towards protecting Shia Muslims across the violence-wracked country.

Meanwhile, Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the militants' umbrella group, the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings which sent shock waves across the militancy-hit nation.

"Our men have carried out these attacks. We pay solute to these brave mujahedeen who sacrificed their lives. Actually Shias are our declared enemies," Ihsan said.

Heavily armed militants have targeted several religious ceremonies commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him) in different regions of Pakistan over the past week.

Violence has surged against Shia Muslims in different parts of Pakistan in recent months. Since the beginning of 2012, hundreds of Shias have been killed in various parts of the militancy-wracked country.

Pakistan's pro-Taliban militants have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims over the past years. According to local sources, militants affiliated to Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist groups have killed thousands of Shia Muslims in the region since the start of the campaign.

The country’s Shia leaders have called on the government to form a judicial commission to investigate the bloodshed.

The killing of Shias in Pakistan has sparked international outrage, with rights groups and regional countries expressing concern over the ongoing carnage. Still, those behind the violence are rarely caught or punished.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement in September asking the Pakistani government to “urgently act” to protect the Shia Muslims in Pakistan.
Moreover, thousands of people have also lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror.

In addition, thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.

JR/JR

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/22/273945/pakistanis-hold-funeral-for-shia-victims/

Lebanon foils Ashura terror plot, 5 Syrians detained

Lebanese troops have detained five Syrian nationals in the southern town of Nabatieh as they were preparing explosives to be used against Shia mourners commemorating the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), on the Day of Ashura.

The five Syrians were captured in the al-Maslakh neighborhood of the town, situated 57 kilometers (35 miles) south of Beirut, on Friday, the English-language newspaper the Daily Star reported on Saturday.

Lebanese Shias mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH) by holding ceremonies in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Bekaa Valley, and several towns in the south.

Nabatieh usually holds the largest ceremony in the country.

The ceremonies commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his 72 companions will reach their climax on the Day of Ashura -- the tenth day of the Islamic lunar month of Muharram.

Ashura, which occurs on Sunday, November 25 this year, is the anniversary of the day in 680 CE when thousands of forces loyal to the despotic Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Muawiyah martyred Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his 72 companions in Karbala, Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of people flood Karbala for the Ashura religious rituals every year.

MP/HGL

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/25/274362/lebanon-foils-ashura-terror-plot-5-busted/

Deaths in blast as Pakistan Shia mark Ashura

Attack claimed by Pakistani Taliban kills five in city of Dera Ismail Khan near Shia procession mourning Imam Hussein.

Last Modified: 25 Nov 2012 16:28

bomb attack on a Shia Muslim procession has killed five people and wounded scores more in northwest Pakistan as the group marked Ashura, a day of religious significance for Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The bomb exploded on Sunday in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where another blast on Saturday killed eight people near a Shia Muslim procession.

"Five people were killed and 83 injured in the bomb blast," Shafeerulla Khan, a senior government official in regional capital Peshawar told AFP news agency.

Khan said preliminary investigations indicated the device was planted inside a shop but police were probing whether a suicide bomber was involved.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said the armed group claimed responsibility for the bombing and threatened more attacks.

"It was a suicide attack and we claim responsibility for it," Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

He repeated his threat made on Saturday that the Taliban had dispatched more suicide bombers across the country for attacks against the minority community.

The group claimed Saturday's bombing, and a suicide attack that killed 23 people on Thursday at a Shia procession in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Anwar Khan Akbar, a police official confirmed the death toll and said the target of the attack was the Ashura procession.

Khalid Aziz, a doctor in the city's main hospital, told Pakistan's private ARY TV channel some of the injured were in critical condition.

Foiled attack

In a separate development, police in Pakistan's largest city Karachi said they foiled a major terrorist attack.

They said they killed a Taliban member in a gun battle and recovered a 100kg bomb planted in a car.

Police arrested another suspected Taliban member and also found two suicide vests, two AK-47 assault rifles and two pistols in the car.

"Police intercepted the car and killed a militant in an exchange of gunfire," Aslam Khan, a senior police official, told AFP, saying that the suspects planned to use the car to target an Ashura procession.

In December 2009, a suicide bomber killed 43 people in Karachi at a Shia procession to mark Ashura.

Pakistan has deployed tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces to try to avert sectarian clashes or attacks on Ashura marches.

While both Shia and Sunni Muslims mark the day of Ashura, it is a celebratory day for Sunni Muslims but a day of commemoration for Shia Muslims who mourn the killing of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein.

Authorities have ordered heightened security, with services for mobile phones, which are often used to trigger bombs, suspended in major cities.

More than 300 Shia Pakistani's have been killed this year alone in sectarian related conflict, according to local Pakistani media.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/11/2012112515644432149.html

This attacks are quite saddening and the handiwork of vile and evil people, may Allah destroy those who slay the innocent! Amin.

vedaxcool: This attacks are quite saddening and the handiwork of vile and evil people, may Allah destroy those who slay the innocent! Amin.

Subhanallah!
Takbeer!

This is a wonderful step in the right direction from Vedaxcool.I'm not only suprised but I'm also shocked.those who carry out these attacks don't do them by mistake but deliberately part of their distinct (un-Islamic) doctrine they hold,even though they claim to be Muslims.

I'm happy for you Vedaxcool.it shows there is still humanity in you.I pray Allah will guide you to the path He has chosen for us as Muslims.

Bahrain police break up march after Ashura memorial service


2:45 p.m. CST, November 26, 2012

DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahraini security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to scatter hundreds of youths who tried to march towards the centre of the capital on Monday after annual Ashura services marking one of the holiest days in the Shi'ite Muslim calendar.

Bahrain, an important U.S. ally and base for U.S. warships, last year used martial law and help from Gulf neighbors to crush an uprising mainly by its Shi'ite majority against alleged discrimination. But unrest has since resumed with frequent clashes between demonstrators and police.

 Witnesses said some 400 people marched from Diya village near Manama towards the site of Pearl Roundabout in the capital after the Ashura services held to mark the anniversary of the killing of Prophet Mohammad's grandson, Imam Hussein.

The roundabout was the main rallying point of the 2011 uprising by Shi'ites to push for political reforms and equality with Sunni Muslims, and security forces have kept it off-limits to protesters since the revolt was put down.

Consequently, clashes erupted on Monday when demonstrators numbering in the thousands, according to opposition activities and a news website, neared the roundabout and were confronted by security forces.

Witnesses said at least one protester was arrested and security forces used tear gas, stun grenades and birdshot to rout the crowd. Dozens were overcome by tear gas.

The Interior Ministry said it confronted a group of "troublemakers" who used firebombs and used stones and wooden barricades to block a main street there.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain said last month it was temporarily banning protests while new procedures are put in place to ensure peaceful demonstrations.

The move, along with the revocation of the citizenship of 31 Bahrainis accused of fomenting violence, had been criticized by Western countries and international rights groups.

Muslims across the Middle East commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein in the battle of Kerbala in Iraq in 680 A.D., with ritual mourning ceremonies and recitation of religious songs.

(Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Copyright © 2012, Reuters

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-bahrain-ashura-protestbre8ap13p-20121126,0,5955787.story

Bombings kill Shias in Iraq cities of Hilla and Karbala

29 November 2012 Last updated at 09:09

At least 31 people have been killed in bomb attacks on predominantly Shia Muslim areas south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials say.

A double bombing in the city of Hilla killed 26 people and wounded scores more.

A car bomb also exploded in the nearby shrine city of Karbala, killing at least five people.

No group has said it carried out the attacks but Sunni militants have targeted the Shia majority in the past.

Pilgrims flock to Karbala each year for Ashura commemorations, the climax of the holy month of Muharram.

Initial reports said the two bombs in Hilla exploded near a restaurant. The dead included two women, three children, two medics and a civil defence member, police and medics said.

Witnesses said Iraqi security forces cordoned off the area of the blasts and set up checkpoints in the city.

In Karbala, a parked car exploded near one of the city gates, a police officer quoted by AP news agency said.

Those who died were civilians but policemen were among more than 20 wounded, he added. The blast also damaged nearby buildings.

A recent upsurge in such attacks has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian conflict that beset Iraq in the years after the 2003 US-led invasion.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20537797

Date: 2012/12/17 - 13:12

source: aljazeera

Bombs Targeting Shia Places and Police Officials Across Iraq Kill Over 20 People

Police and hospital sources say at least 20 people have been killed in a series of attacks targeting both security forces and civilians across Iraq. 

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A series of car bombs near Shia places of worship has killed at least 20 people and injured many, a day after multiple blasts had hit two Iraqi cities killing nine people.

Three gunmen attacked a police checkpoint on the highway west of Tikrit, killing one policeman and wounding three.

A police patrol then chased the gunmen, who abandoned their car and then detonated explosives in it, killing four more police and wounding two, a police lieutenant colonel told the AFP news agency.

In the village of Al-Buslaibi, north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed three soldiers, an army captain said.

A car bomb exploded in Khaznah, a village near Mosul in north Iraq populated by the small Shabak minority, killed seven people and wounded 12, while two car bombs near a Shia place of worship killed five and wounded 20 in the northern flashpoint town of Tuz Khurmatu, police officers and doctors said.

Monday's violence comes a day after a string of bombings and a shooting which killed 19 people.

Kurds attacked

Two car bombs and seven roadside bombs on Sunday targeted two Shia places of worship in Kirkuk, one in the city's north and another in its south, killing a total of five people and wounding 14, a senior police officer told the AFP news agency.

The attacks occurred around 7:30pm local time (16:30GMT), the officer said. A doctor from Kirkuk general hospital confirmed the toll.

Earlier on Sunday, a car bomb explosion near a Kurdish party office killed two Kurdish security recruits and wounded five in a disputed city north of the capital, Baghdad.

Security officials said the blast targeted the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) office in Jalawla some 125km northeast of the capital.

An officer in the Jalawla police said the bomb exploded at the local headquarters of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan after a number of people seeking to join the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces had gathered.

Both Arabs and Kurds claim Jalawla, and a local policeman said the violence resulted from the tensions. He did not explain further.

/129

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=373000

30 December 2012 Last updated at 08:18 GMT

Blast in southwest Pakistan kills Shia pilgrims

At least 19 Shia Muslim pilgrims have been killed by a bomb attack on a bus convoy in southwest Pakistan, local officials say.

More than 20 people have been injured in the incident in the Mastung district of Baluchistan province.

Pakistan has experienced worsening sectarian violence in recent years. Last month 23 Shia Muslims were killed by a bomb in the city of Rawalpindi.

No group has yet said it carried out Sunday's bombing.

Initial reports said it had been detonated by remote control but a government official said it had been a suicide attack.

Officials said that some of those injured were in a critical condition and that the death toll may rise.

The bus convoy had reportedly been on their way to neighbouring Iran, a Shia-majority country and popular pilgrimage destination.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20869409?SThisFB

3 January 2013 Last updated at 16:41 GMT

Car bomb kills Shia pilgrims south of Baghdad Iraq

A car bomb has killed at least 20 Shia Muslim pilgrims and injured others in the Iraqi town of Musayyib, south of the capital Baghdad, officials say.

The device exploded in a car park at 17:00 (14:00 GMT) as pilgrims returned from the holy city of Karbala.

An eyewitness spoke of having seen dozens of bodies and cars on fire after the explosion.

Shia pilgrims, who have been frequently targeted in Iraq, have been observing the festival of Arbaeen.

The bomb went off close to a bus stop where coaches that carry pilgrims from Karbala to other Iraqi cities drop and collect them, police told BBC News.

Bombs killed seven people in Musayyib on Monday.

Iraq's Shia-led government has been accused by critics of seeking to marginalise political representatives of the Sunni minority, which dominated the country under the late Saddam Hussein.

There were no immediate reports on Thursday of any group saying it had carried out the bombing. Past attacks on Shia pilgrims have been blamed on Sunni militants.

'Dozens of bodies'

A police official who spoke to the Associated Press news agency said children were among the dead in Musayyib, 60km (40 miles) south of Baghdad .

Ali Sabbar, a pilgrim who witnessed the explosion, told Reuters news agency: "I was getting a sandwich when a very strong explosion rocked the place and the blast threw me away.

"When I regained my senses and stood up, I saw dozens of bodies. Many cars were set on fire."

The news agency quoted police and medics as saying a suicide attacker had set off the device but other reports spoke only of a car bomb.

Security forces traditionally tighten security during Shia pilgrimages in Iraq but accept they cannot stop every attack, correspondents say.

Millions of pilgrims have visited Karbala to mark an anniversary associated with a revered Shia figure, Imam Hussein.

According to provincial governor Amal al-Din al-Har, quoted by AFP, these included around 750,000 pilgrims from 30 different countries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20903500

Twin blasts kill 57 in southwest Pakistan

Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:42PM GMT

More than 50 people have been killed in two successive bombings that ripped through a billiards hall in the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province.


According to senior police officer Hamid Shakil, the twin blasts went off about 10 minutes apart in the city of Quetta late Thursday evening, killing 57 people and injuring more than 100.

Police officer Mohammed Murtaza said the second bomb caused the building to collapse, adding that many of the dead and wounded were Shia Muslims.


The incident comes hours after a separate bomb attack killed 11 people in a crowded commercial area of the city.

Anti-Shia militant groups have been engaged in a violent campaign against Shias over the past few years.

Hundreds of Shia Muslims were killed across Pakistan last year. The attacks targeted many doctors, engineers, high-ranking government officials, teachers, and politicians.

Human rights groups in Pakistan have vehemently criticized the government for its failure to stem the rising tide of violence against the country's Shia Muslims.

Shias make up almost 20 percent of the country's 176-million-strong population.

TE/HMV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/10/282870/twin-blasts-kill-57-in-southwest-pakistan/

Bombings kill 103 people in Pakistan
By By ABDUL SATTAR and SHIRIN ZADA | Associated Press – 1 hr 48 mins ago.



QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A series of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed 103 people on Thursday, including 69 who died in a sectarian attack on a bustling billiard hall in the southwest city of Quetta, officials said.

The blasts punctuated one of the deadliest days in recent years in Pakistan, where the government faces a bloody insurgency by Taliban militants in the northwest and Baluch militants in the southwest.

The country is also home to many enemies of the U.S. that Washington has frequently targeted with drone attacks. A U.S. missile strike Thursday killed five suspected militants in the seventh such attack in two weeks, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The billiard hall in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, was hit by twin blasts about 10 minutes apart on Thursday night, killing 69 people and wounding more 160 others, said senior police officer Hamid Shakeel.

The billiard hall was located in an area dominated by Shiite Muslims, and most of the dead and wounded were from the minority sect, said another police officer, Mohammed Murtaza. Many of the people who rushed to the scene after the first blast and were hit by the second bomb, which caused the roof of the building to collapse, he said.

Police officers, journalists and rescue workers who responded to the initial explosion were also among the dead, police said.

The sectarian militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack to local journalists. One of the group's spokesmen, Bakar Saddiq, said the first blast was carried out by a suicide bomber and the second was a bomb planted in a car and detonated by remote control.

Radical Sunnis groups often target Pakistan's Shiite minority, whom they believe hold heretical views and are not true Muslims.

Earlier in the day, a bomb targeting paramilitary soldiers in a commercial area in Quetta killed 12 people and wounded more than 40 others, said Shakeel, the senior police officer.

The United Baluch Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack on the soldiers in calls to local journalists.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, a bomb in a crowded Sunni mosque in the northwest city of Mingora killed 22 people and wounded more than 70, said senior police officer Akhtar Hayyat.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

___

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.

http://news.yahoo.com/bombings-kill-103-people-pakistan-185413160.html

11 January 2013 Last updated at 16:56 GMT

Pakistan blasts: Shia refuse to bury Quetta bomb dead

Pakistan's minority Shia community has protested angrily over what it says is a lack of protection in the city of Quetta, a day after almost 100 people died there in a series of blasts.

Leaders of the community have refused to bury the dead until security is improved.

One Shia leader publicly criticised army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.

Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi said it carried out the deadliest attack in Quetta on Thursday.

Three days of mourning have been announced in Balochistan province after the blasts in its capital, on one of the deadliest days of bombings in Pakistan in recent years.

At least 119 people were killed in Quetta and in a separate attack in Mingora in the north-west

'Hell on Earth'

The worst attack targeted a snooker hall late on Thursday evening in Alamdar Road in Quetta. One suicide bomber detonated his device and a car bomb was detonated minutes later as police, rescuers and media arrived.

Most of the dead were from Quetta's 500,000-strong Hazara Shia.

Members of the community on Friday laid coffins in the street, refusing to bury them.

The president of the Shia Conference, Syed Dawood Agha, told the BBC that his community would not bury its dead till the army had given an assurance it would take administrative control of the city.

A relative of one of the victims, Fida Hussain, said: "We want safety for our all sects, and all security measures should be taken for our safety. We will not bury them until the government fulfils all our demands."

One resident, Jan Ali, told Associated Press that Thursday's blast at the snooker hall was "a scene like hell on Earth".

"Rescue people were carrying out dead and injured, people bleeding and crying, and rushing them toward ambulances. I have never seen such a horrifying situation in my life."

Among the dead was Quetta-based rights activist, Irfan Ali, who was reportedly helping those wounded in the first blast.

Another resident, Abbas Ali, told AP news agency: "This government has totally failed in protecting us. Somehow we will get compensation for our losses but those who have gone away will not come back."

Key Shia leader Maulana Amin Shaheedi criticised what he said was the inaction of Gen Kayani.

He said: "I ask the army chief: 'What have you done with these extra three years you got [in office]? What did you give us except more death?'"

Shia protesters also turned out in the port city of Karachi to demonstrate their anger at the killings.

'Separatist attack'

At least 85 people were killed at the snooker hall, with more than 100 injured.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has in the past targeted the area's Hazara Shia.

Earlier, a bomb in a market area killed 12 people and injured dozens more.

Paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps appeared to be the target.

A spokesman for militant group, the United Baloch Army, said it had carried out that bombing.

Balochistan is plagued by a separatist rebellion as well as the sectarian infighting.

The Taliban and armed groups that support them also carry out attacks in the province, particularly in areas near the Afghan border.

Also on Thursday, at least 22 people were killed and more than 80 injured in an explosion near Mingora in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley.

The blast took place at a religious gathering.

Police initially said the explosion was caused by a gas canister, but a senior official later said it was a bomb.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20989329?SThisFB

Letter to BBC in response to their coverage of massacre of over 100 Shia Muslims in Quetta Pakistan – by Asif Zaidi

Twin blasts at a snooker hall in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta have killed 81 people and injured more than 120, police say.

Sir,

While covering today’s blasts in Quetta, Pakistan, you ascribe it to Shia-Sunni violence in the country. This is gross misrepresentation of an absolutely one-way sectarian-cleansing of Shias in Pakistan by the extremist militants. To put it very succinctly:

People are being taken off the buses and killed for being Shias after proper identification. (Why every other Pakistani in the same bus goes unscathed?)
Shias are being identified and then killed in the major urban centres.
Hazaras in Quetta are being isolated and being killed merely for being Shias.
Parachinar, Tirah, Gilgit, Baltistan, Nagar etc are being sequestered and brutally attacked just because Shias live there.

This amounts to a modern systematic cleansing of a group in Pakistan with a death toll that now surpasses that of Srebrenica Massacre recognized as genocide. The annihilation of Shias in Pakistan meets with genocide’s essential notion of complete or partial destruction of a national group as per 1948 Genocide Convention and all subsequent legal definitions of genocide. It aims to destroy a group and not just the individuals making up the group with the ultimate purpose of destroying the group’s identity to impose identity of the perpetrator. Just as the Jews and Gypsies were seen by their killers as being outside of German, Polish, and Lithuanian national groups, the Shias in Pakistan are viewed by their killers as being outside of Muslims as a group. A complete inability to identify, apprehend and bring the perpetrators to justice widens the sphere in government’s and media’s complicity in this genocide.

Shia persecution is largely an uncovered topic in the mainstream media. The wretched reality is that it is of no interest to the majority of the world. Globally, there is a severe lack of awareness on this topic as the Western media hardly discusses Shia genocide. In Pakistan, most people do not acknowledge the Shia genocide as a problem. The mainstream media in Pakistan has been silent as well. The terms like terrorism and sectarian-violence are often employed to confuse the truth of Shia-cleansing.

The killing of Shias in Pakistan epitomizes the essence of genocidal practices in partial (or complete) destruction of a national group as Lemkin understood it. It bears resemblance with the killings of Jews in the Germany of early and mid-1930s. Experience has shown that calling a case of genocide by its proper name is useful in identifying and stopping such actions. Genocide can be prevented in its early stages, but this requires decisive action. When such action is not taken, those who are indifferent to the increasing scale and intensity of violence become complicit in the exponentially increasing crimes, as we now see in Pakistan.

We must begin by identifying the victims as Shias being targeted as a religious national group regardless of their ethnic background. The clear intent is to destroy the whole group. The surviving members of the group must be viewed as co-victims in accordance with genocide’s definition.

In a backdrop such as this we look up to an institution like yours to live up to its high standards of fairness and play its due role in disabling this genocide through media reporting in the international community. Can we count on you to feed accurate information of the happenings and the intent on the ground that can lead to action by the international community?

Please use your capacity to push for action.

Yours truly,

Asif Zaidi

http://worldshiaforum./2013/01/11/letter-to-bbc-in-response-to-their-coverage-of-massacre-of-over-100-shia-muslims-in-quetta-pakistan-by-asif-zaidi/

Nasrallah to Extremists: Your Crimes Against Shias, Christians, & Other People are Useless (ENG Sub)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Rzj09Hkvg

Iraq bombings claim 25 lives, injure scores

A string of bomb attacks in Iraq have left at least 25 people dead and countless others wounded on the third consecutive day of deadly violence in the country.

Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:31PM

LAST UPDATE

The bombings which occurred on Thursday mostly targeted Shia Muslims.

The worst attacks took place near Dujail, north of Baghdad, where twin car bombs killed 11 pilgrims and injured more than 60 others.

Earlier in the day, a car bomb targeted a bus carrying foreign pilgrims near the holy city of Karbala, which lies some 100 kilometers southwest of the capital and hosts the holy shrine of the third Shia Imam, Hussein (PBUH).

Four people were killed in the incident and many others wounded. One person died later when two more blasts shook the city.

Elsewhere, seven people, among them several Shias, were killed in bomb explosion in the town of Qassim, some 125 kilometers south of Baghdad.

A separate roadside bomb in Baghdad’s northeast also claimed the lives of two passengers of a vehicle and injured two more.

Thursday's bloodshed came one day after a wave of terrorist attacks killed dozens of people across Iraq, in the country's deadliest day in more than a month.

MRS/HGH/IS

http://presstv.com/detail/2013/01/17/284130/iraq-bombings-claim-25-lives-injure-scores/

Market bomb kills 79 in southwest Pakistan: police
AFP - 2 hrs ago

A bomb targeting Shiite Muslims in a busy market in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwest killed 79 people including women and children and wounded 180 others, officials said Sunday.

The powerful bomb in a water tanker ripped through a packed bazaar in Hazara town, an area dominated by Shiites on the outskirts of Quetta -- capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province -- at around 6:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Saturday.

"We have recovered more dead bodies from the debris of a collapsed building. The death toll has now risen to 79," senior Quetta police official Wazir Khan Nasir told AFP,

Quetta city police chief Zubair Mehmood said the water tanker, which officials said was packed with some 800 kilograms (1,750 pounds) of explosives, was placed near a pillar of a two-storey building, which collapsed in the blast.

"We fear that several people have been trapped inside. Rescue work is ongoing but I see very little chance of their survival," Mehmood said.

Nasir said the bombing "was a sectarian attack, the Shiite community was the target".

A spokesman for the banned Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said the dead and injured included women and children, and confirmed reports of people trapped under rubble at the site of the collapsed building.

"We fear more casualties. We have announced an emergency in hospitals," he told AFP.

Officials and witnesses said an angry mob initially surrounded the area following the bombing and were not allowing police, rescue workers and reporters to reach the site.

"They were angry and started a protest, some of them pelted police with stones," Durrani said, adding that authorities and medical personnel were eventually able to gain access.

Sayed Qamar Haider Zaidi, a spokesman for Shiite groups in the area, condemned the Pakistani government for not providing protection to the community and announced three days of mourning and protest over the attack.

Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has increasingly become a flashpoint for sectarian violence between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and Shiites, who account for around a fifth of the country's 180 million people.

At least 92 people were killed and 121 wounded on January 10 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a crowded snooker club in an area of Quetta city dominated by the Shiite community.

It was Pakistan's worst sectarian bombing, also claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and came after what Human Rights Watch (HRW) said was the deadliest year on record for the country's Shiites, with more than 400 people killed in 2012, mostly in drive-by shootings.

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf late last month sacked the provincial government in Baluchistan after meeting Shiite Muslim protesters demanding protection.

The province is also rife with Islamist militants and hit by a regional insurgency which began in 2004, with fighters demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources.

http://yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/bomb-pakistan-kills-least-10-shiite-muslims-141851601.html?orig_host_hdr=uk.news.yahoo.com&.intl=GB&.lang=en-GB

Blasts kill 21 in Shiite areas of Baghdad

By Ammar Karim and Ahmed al-Rubaye

(AFP) – 14 minutes ago 

BAGHDAD — A series of bombings mainly targeting Shiite areas of Baghdad killed at least 21 people on Sunday, officials said, in the latest violence to hit Iraq as it struggles with protests and a political crisis.

Three car bombs struck the sprawling Sadr City slum in the north of the city, car bombs exploded in Ameen, Al-Husseiniyah and Kamaliyah in the east, and a roadside bomb blew up in Karrada in central Baghdad, security and medics said.

Another roadside device went off in Saidiyah in the capital's south.
At least 21 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in the attacks, the officials said.
Residents of Sadr City were enraged by the bombings, and hospitals in the area were quickly crowded with people searching for relatives, an AFP journalist reported.
"What did we do? We're always the victims of conflicts between politicians," one woman shouted.
Ali Kadhim, who owns a shop near the site of one blast, agreed, saying: "They always threaten each other, and it's us who die. The people are always the victims."

And Hussein Mohammed, who was wounded and whose car was destroyed by one explosion, questioned how the bomb could have got past security forces into the area.
"I spent about two hours to enter Sadr City, so how could this car bomb enter?" he asked, his clothes smeared with blood and dirt. "Where is the security?"

The carnage could have been even worse -- the AFP journalist saw soldiers apparently working to defuse another car bomb in the area.

Heavy security measures were put in place after the Sadr City attacks, with some areas closed off.
Security forces also searched cars at the main entrance to Sadr City and helicopters overflew the area, another AFP journalist said.

Sunday's attacks bring the number of people killed in violence this month to at least 156, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials nationwide.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest wave of attacks.

But Sunni militants linked to the Al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq often target the Shiite majority in a bid to erode confidence in the central government and push the country back towards the bloody sectarian conflict of 2006-2007.

The Baghdad bombings follow multiple attacks on Saturday that killed five people, including the head of Iraq's intelligence academy.

Two suicide bombers killed Brigadier General Aouni Ali and two of his guards, and more bombings resulted in the deaths of a judge and an army lieutenant.

Members of the security forces and judicial officials are also often targeted by militants in Iraq.
The latest violence comes as after nearly two months of anti-government protests centred on Sunni-majority areas in north and west Iraq, calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and amid a festering political crisis.
The demonstrations were initially sparked in December by the arrest of several guards of Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, a leading Sunni.

The longest-running protests have blocked a key trade route linking Baghdad to both Jordan and Syria.
As the demonstrations have since expanded markedly, the government has sought to curtail them by saying it has released thousands of detainees and raised the salaries of Sunni militiamen battling Al-Qaeda extremists.

It has also restricted movements in major cities on Fridays, when the largest protests are staged.
Maliki, meanwhile, has been tussling with a political crisis that has pitted him against many of his government partners barely two months before provincial elections, the country's first since March 2010 parliamentary polls.

Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g2dod61yi-E-yGfd30_ePYE73IJw?docId=CNG.2f1ed21039f22de584b6978b4af4c1fb.11