Gunman attack Church - Missionaries Arrested

Gunmen attack church in Libya's Benghazi: state media

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/03/us-libya-church-attack-idUSBRE9220F220130303

TRIPOLI | Sun Mar 3, 2013 3:37pm EST

(Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an Egyptian Coptic church in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, assaulting two priests, the official LANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying on Sunday.

The foreign ministry said it "strongly condemned Thursday's attack on the Egyptian church ... and the aggression towards Father Paul Isaac and his assistant by the irresponsible armed men," LANA quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying.

It did not elaborate on the attacks but said an inquiry committee involving the interior, defense and justice ministries had been formed and had "taken the necessary measures to secure the church and its occupants".

It expressed "deep concern" over the attack, saying it was "contrary to the rules" of Islam and international human rights laws.

Libya's small Christian community has expressed fears over Islamist extremism as the government struggles to impose its authority over armed groups which have refused to lay down their weapons since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

In December, an explosion at a building belonging to a Coptic church in Dafniya, close to the western city of Misrata, killed two Egyptian men and wounded two others.

Last month, four foreigners were arrested in Benghazi on suspicion of being Christian missionaries and printing books about Christianity.

Hussein Bin Hmeid, a spokesman for the government-affiliated security apparatus called the Preventative Security which made the arrests, said the missionaries had since been transferred to Tripoli.

He said the four - an Egyptian, a South African, a Korean and a Swede who was travelling on a U.S. passport - were now in the hands of the Interior Ministry and had been visited by representatives from their countries.

(Reporting by Ali Shuaib; additional reporting by Ghaith Shennib in Benghazi; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Jason Webb)

Islamist Militia Behind Benghazi Attack Makes a Comeback, Obama Golfs

February 16, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/islamist-militia-behind-benghazi-attack-makes-a-comeback-obama-golfs/

When Obama said that he was going to get the folks who did this, he apparently meant jailing the filmmaker who made a Mohammed movie, not the Muslim killers of four Americans. With that job done, he went on yet another golfing vacation.

And in Benghazi, the Islamist militia behind the attack is taking power in the city once again.

After the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission last fall that left the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead, the Islamist militia widely accused of leading the assault all but disappeared amid a popular backlash.

But Ansar al-Sharia is edging back into society, and many of Benghazi’s residents now say they want it here.

The militia tentatively resumed its role as guardian of Benghazi’s two main hospitals last week. Its fighters have staked out positions at the western entrance to the city. They have also moved back onto their base, and residents say the group has been participating in community cleanup and charity work.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Jalal al-Gallal, a prominent political activist in the city and a former member of Libya’s transitional government. Ansar al-Sharia has some “hard-liners,” he said, “but they do actually carry out a lot of good work, whether we like it or not.”

Oh and Obama’s Islamist rebel Libyan government is up to its ears in this.

“The people attacked Ansar al-Sharia a few months ago because they were angry. But now they’re asking them to come back because there is no police and no real military,” said Essam al-Zubeir, a government spokesman in Tripoli.

Rafallah al-Sahati has recoiled, too.In September, the group’s commanders bragged about the militia’s role on the rescue team that assisted the American evacuation from the mission on the night of the attack. But the group largely disappeared from the public eye in the months since.

The group recently resumed command of checkpoints on the city’s perimeter, but it has changed its name to “Libyan Shield 3” because it now falls under the command of the Defense Ministry.

So one of the Islamist militias behind the Benghazi attack operates under the Libyan defense ministry and will be a beneficiary of US aid and possibly even military training.

But at least the guy who made the Mohammed movie is in jail. Mission accomplished.

About Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.