Terrorism Watch

A gunman fired at a church in Sri Lanka, police said on Saturday, with the country on high alert six years since  Easter Sunday bombings  killed hundreds. The gunman opened fire Friday at a church in Manampitiya, 160 kilometres northeast of the capital, Colombo, a police statement said. The shooting damaged windows, and no one was hurt, while a suspect has been arrested, police said. “Initial investigations suggest that the suspect had targeted the church due to a personal enmity with the pastor,” the statement said. Armed police and troops have been deployed to nearly all churches nationwide during Easter celebrations, with security heightened following the 2019 attack. Suicide bombers  in 2019  killed  279 people, including 45 foreigners, at three churches and three hotels. More than 500 people were wounded in the attack, which officials blamed on a home-grown Islamist group. The Catholic Church will commemorate the victims on Monday by declaring them “Heroes ...

Sanaa:  Air strikes carried out by the United States on Thursday at Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port resulted in at least 74 fatalities, marking one of the deadliest attacks by US forces on the country, according to a report by Al Jazeera. The group’s Health Ministry spokesman, Anees Alasbah, said on Friday that the strikes carried out on Thursday also wounded 171 people. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that the strikes were aimed at cutting off the Houthis’ fuel and revenue sources, describing the operation as an effort to target the economic power of the Iran-backed group. In a post on social media on Thursday, CENTCOM said, “Today, US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists. The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis.” Earlier, the US military’s attack on Ras Isa port had killed at least 38, while about 102 have also been injured, Hodeidah’s health office reported. Meanwhile, Mark...

A 46-year-old businessman was lynched when a few hundred supporters of the religiopolitical party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) stormed a place of worship belonging to the Ahmadi community in Karachi’s Saddar area on Friday to prevent it from observing religious rituals, according to officials. Speaking to  Dawn.com , South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza said the deceased owned a shop at Tariq Road. As soon as he learned about TLP supporters storming the Ahmadiyya Hall in Saddar, he closed his shop and went to the site of the incident. “We have decided to lodge a murder case against the TLP leaders and workers. We are waiting for relatives to lodge the first information report (FIR). If they do not register the case, then the FIR will be registered on behalf of the state against the TLP workers,” the DIG said. However, the TLP denied the allegation and said it was not to blame for the incident. Raza added that the police were in the process of identifyin...

LONDON: An Alba party member of the Scottish Parliament has tabled Scotland’s first-ever parliamentary motion tackling Hinduphobia. Ash Regan tabled the motion, which highlights rising levels of prejudice, discrimination and marginalisation experienced by the 16,000-strong Scottish Hindu community. It also acknowledges the importance of their research, advocacy and public engagement in raising awareness and advancing interfaith dialogue, social cohesion and mutual respect across Scotland’s diverse communities. The motion commends the work of the Gandhian Peace Society, a UK registered charity, for its report “Hinduphobia in Scotland”, which was presented on Jan 23 to the Scottish parliamentary cross-party group on challenging racial and religious prejudice. Motions are short statements written by MSPs to raise awareness of an issue. The report combines data with first-hand accounts of Hinduphobia. It highlights the vandalising of a Dundee temple with hateful graffiti and an attack with...

  Two years ago this week, a conflict erupted in Sudan that few anticipated would escalate so rapidly or persist for so long. What began as a violent power struggle has become one of the worst and most neglected humanitarian crises of our time. The country has been plunged into a state of devastation marked by mass displacement, hunger, violence and disease. The numbers are staggering. More than 30 million people need humanitarian aid. At least 15 million people are currently displaced. Some 11.3 million are displaced inside Sudan and 3.9 million people have fled to neighbouring countries, making this the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 20 million people urgently need access to healthcare. Behind these numbers are millions of individual stories. Parents fearing for the life of their child suffering from severe malnutrition. Families stranded in areas with no food, safe water or medical care. Women, men and children dying because it is too dangerous to go to a health ...

Tomorrow, Wednesday (Yazidi New Year), which is known as the first of April or Wednesday, it is celebrated by the Yazidis with special rituals, most notably egg coloring . The holiday coincides with the first Wednesday of April in the eastern calendar.   ANHA, and accompanied the Yezidis preparations to celebrate the Eid through the coloring of the eggs, and it is scheduled to be held tomorrow in the city of Aleppo, near the village of Banu adjacent to the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood, as well as a celebration held in the village of Duker in the city of Amuda, Jazira Canton in the NE Syria region .     Source:  Yezidis prepare to revive Red Wednesday with their own rituals - ANHA