Religious terrorists often claim they are holier than thou. I guess that is why they target co-religionists.
BORNO STATE, NIGERIA — It must be comforting, in a way, to be a religious terrorist, of whatever flavour. You are sure in your knowledge that you have a monopoly on the truth and that the deity you worship is shining his (or her) face on you. Nice to know you’re right.
With this certainty comes arrogance, however. Not only do you believe you are in the know but you are also convinced that everyone else, with the exception of the few brothers and sisters who happen to be of the same opinion as you, is wrong. It gets worse. Those who are wrong have two choices: kowtow to your convictions or be killed.
The latter happens a lot.
Islamist extremist groups may be the obvious go-to killers when it comes to the targeting of other faiths, but they are far from alone. Hindu extremists in India have targeted that nation’s Christians and Muslims. Buddhist terrorists in Sri Lanka have attacked the same two communities on the island. Christian terrorists have carried out plots on synagogues and mosques.
And yet Islamist terrorists get a lot of attention these days for several reasons. Firstly we are in a post 9/11 period in which the attacks in New York and Washington almost two decades ago still define terrorism for many of us. Secondly jihadis still carry out the vast majority of killings worldwide. Thirdly, they love to slaughter worshipers in churches, synagogues and gurdwaras. And fourthly, they often target their co-religionists, whom they see as kuffar (unbelievers).
A male bomber killed Moslems; we heard a loud explosion this morning during our early morning prayer before we (CJTF) got to the scene six people had died, and three others gave up the ghost later.
On this day in 2016 Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State killed nine and injured dozens in a mosque. One of the suspected male suicide bombers who pretended to be a worshiper maneuvered his way into a mosque in the town of Damboa in the southern part of Borno state and detonated his destructive load. A second suicide bomber blew himself up outside a bigger osmque as guards prevented him from entering.
Pretending to be at a mosque to engage in communal prayer and instead killing those beside you. How heinous. I hope the terrorist enjoyed his one-way ticket to the seventh level of hell.
