BREAKING: Terrorist Attack in India -- Westerners Targeted -- Hostages -- 80 Dead -- 900 Hurt

Developing...

At least 80 people were killed tonight and 20 Westerners taken hostage as suspected Islamic terrorists mounted a series of co-ordinated attacks on India’s financial capital.

The gunman, armed with automatic weapons and grenades, targeted British and American tourists in the city’s luxury hotels and bars. They were reported to be holding Western tourists hostage at the Taj Mahal Palace, Bombay’s top hotel, where a group of British MEPs were staying.

As a swathe of violent incidents swept across the south of the city, hitting at least nine locations, security sources said “a major terror attack” was unfolding. A senior police officer said that “terrorists have used automatic weapons and we have reports that in some places hand grenades have been used”.

“We have reports of 80 people dead and at least 900 injured. Many have serious injuries and the toll will go up,” said P.D Ghadge, a police officer in the main control room in Mumbai. Hemant Karkare, chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Bombay, was among the victims. Police said two terrorists had been killed.

Shootings were reported in the lobby of the five-star Taj Mahal Palace hotel in the Colaba area of south Bombay and at the nearby Leopolds bar, a popular destination with western backpackers. Witnesses described pools of blood and bullet-scarred walls at both locations.

“I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports,” said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel on business. “They had bombs.”

“They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs.”

At the nearby Oberon hotel, a regular meeting place for businessmen and wealthy tourists, witnesses described a “high intensity” bomb blast.

UPDATE: Little known Islamic group claims responsibility:

A media report says a little-known group, the Deccan Mujahideen, has claimed responsibility for the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The Press Trust of India news agency said Thursday the group sent emails to several media outlets.

Teams of heavily armed gunmen attacked a crowded train station in southern Mumbai and Leopold's restaurant, a well-known Mumbai landmark, along with the two hotels and a police station.

UPDATE: 80 dead, 900 hurt.

UPDATE: Indian troops closing in on gunmen:

The Indian army reportedly is closing in on two luxury hotels where dozens of people were being held hostage in Mumbai, India, after attacks by terrorist gunmen who, eyewitnesses said, appeared to be targeting Americans and Britons.

There were reports of new attacks on one hotel, the Trident, and gunfire at another, the JW Marriott. The Army was moving into the Oberoli hotel, according to local television reports.

Police were battling the gunmen, Maharashtra Police Commissioner A.N Roy said.

"The terrorists have used automatic weapons and in some places grenades have been lobbed," Roy said.

UPDATE: Terrorists specifically targeting Americans and Brits:

Westerners were rounded up in at least two five-star hotels, including the exclusive Taj Palace, which were among seven targets stormed by men armed with AK-47 machine guns and grenades.

Witnesses said the terrorists, thought to be linked to Al-Qaeda, were specifically targeting British and American visitors.

PHOTOS

Photo of alleged terrorist involved in the attack



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IS OBAMA THE "PROMISED WARRIOR" SENT TO HELP THE HIDDEN IMAM?

Mohamed was a community organizer. This makes all kinds of sense to me.

Is Barack Obama the "promised warrior" coming to help the Hidden Imam of Shiite Muslims conquer the world?

The question has made the rounds in Iran since last month, when a pro-government Web site published a Hadith (or tradition) from a Shiite text of the 17th century. The tradition comes from Bahar al-Anvar (meaning Oceans of Light) by Mullah Majlisi, a magnum opus in 132 volumes and the basis of modern Shiite Islam.

According to the tradition, Imam Ali Ibn Abi-Talib (the prophet's cousin and son-in-law) prophesied that at the End of Times and just before the return of the Mahdi, the Ultimate Saviour, a "tall black man will assume the reins of government in the West." Commanding "the strongest army on earth," the new ruler in the West will carry "a clear sign" from the third imam, whose name was Hussein Ibn Ali. The tradition concludes: "Shiites should have no doubt that he is with us."

In a curious coincidence Obama's first and second names--Barack Hussein--mean "the blessing of Hussein" in Arabic and Persian. His family name, Obama, written in the Persian alphabet, reads O Ba Ma, which means "he is with us," the magic formula in Majlisi's tradition.

Mystical reasons aside, the Khomeinist establishment sees Obama's rise as another sign of the West's decline and the triumph of Islam. Obama's promise to seek unconditional talks with the Islamic Republic is cited as a sign that the U.S. is ready to admit defeat. Obama's position could mean abandoning three resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council setting conditions that Iran should meet to avoid sanctions. Seeking unconditional talks with the Khomeinists also means an admission of moral equivalence between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. It would imply an end to the description by the U.S. of the regime as a "systematic violator of human rights."

Obama has abandoned claims by all U.S. administrations in the past 30 years that Iran is "a state sponsor of terrorism." Instead, he uses the term "violent groups" to describe Iran-financed outfits such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Obama has also promised to attend a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference within the first 100 days of his presidency. Such a move would please the mullahs, who have always demanded that Islam be treated differently, and that Muslim nations act as a bloc in dealings with Infidel nations.

Obama's election would boost President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chances of winning a second term next June. Ahmadinejad's entourage claim that his "steadfastness in resisting the American Great Satan" was a factor in helping Obama defeat "hardliners" such as Hillary Clinton and, later, it hopes, John McCain.

"President Ahmadinejad has taught Americans a lesson," says Hassan Abbasi, a "strategic adviser" to the Iranian president. "This is why they are now choosing someone who understands Iran's power." The Iranian leader's entourage also point out that Obama copied his campaign slogan "Yes, We Can" from Ahmadinejad's "We Can," used four years ago.

A number of Khomeinist officials have indicated their preference for Obama over McCain, who is regarded as an "enemy of Islam." A Foreign Ministry spokesman says Iran does not wish to dictate the choice of the Americans but finds Obama "a better choice for everyone." Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament, has gone further by saying the Islamic Republic "prefers to see Barack Obama in the White House" next year.

Tehran's penchant for Obama, reflected in the official media, increased when the Illinois senator chose Joseph Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. Biden was an early supporter of the Khomeinist revolution in 1978-1979 and, for the past 30 years, has been a consistent advocate of recognizing the Islamic Republic as a regional power. He has close ties with Khomeinist lobbyists in the U.S. and has always voted against sanctions on Iran.

Ahmadinejad has described the U.S. as a "sunset" (ofuli) power as opposed to Islam, which he says is a "sunrise" (toluee) power. Last summer, he inaugurated an international conference called World Without America--attended by anti-Americans from all over the world, including the U.S.

Seen from Tehran, Obama's election would demoralize the U.S. armed forces by casting doubt on their victories in Iraq and Afghanistan, if not actually transforming them into defeat. American retreat from the Middle East under Obama would enable the Islamic Republic to pursue hegemony of the region. Tehran is especially interested in dominating Iraq, thus consolidating a new position that extends its power to the Mediterranean through Syria and Lebanon.

During the World Without America conference, several speakers speculated that Obama would show "understanding of Muslim grievances" with regard to Palestine. Ahmadinejad hopes to persuade a future President Obama to adopt the "Iranian solution for Palestine," which aims at creating a single state in which Jews would quickly become a minority.

POLITICAL BRILLIANCE: IN MAINE OF ALL PLACES

And listen to the CNN reporter. The Obama picture is "apparently based on a real photo". As if there is some doubt. That photo has been all over the internet for a year now.

"WE WON'T MAKE PEACE WITH THE JEWS"

Religion of peace?

PRO-OBAMA MUSLIM GROUP MAY BE BREAKING THE LAW WITH VOTER REGISTRATION

Super secret foreign internet donations and now this? Obama is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

A leading critic of Islam isn't surprised there has been virtually no coverage or action taken against a Muslim group that has been running an illegal "get out the vote" campaign in swing-state mosques.

The group, Muslim Americans for Obama [MAFO], insists that all of its voter registration activity is non-partisan, despite the fact that its mission statement says it was launched in August 2008 "to provide a vehicle for Muslim-American supporters of Barack Obama to organize and mobilize our fellow citizens to get out the vote to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States."

Continuing, the group's website states: "Although there is only a short period of time until the election..., there is much work to be done for supporters of Barack Obama's candidacy. [MAFO] was formed to offer a vehicle for Muslim-Americans to mobilize quickly and effectively so that our community turns out in great numbers for Barack Obama on Election Day."

Robert Spencer is director of Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He argues MAFO may be skirting the law.

"When they are running these voter registration drives at mosques, really it's essentially illegal because they are clearly trying to get people to vote for Obama -- and that's in violation of their tax-exempt status," Spencer charges. "So this is a group that is crossing the line and ought to be disciplined as such."

MANY MUSLIM CITIES HAVE LARGER GAY POPULATION THAN SAN FRANCISCO: AND OTHER FACTS ABOUT PERVERTS IN ISLAM

Homosexuality and Islam.

SUPER WHACKY MUSLIM FUN TIME: BROKEBACK MOHAMMED

Yeah...I posted it

"OBAMA WAFFLES" SELLING LIKE HOT CAKES: AND THEN THE AP FOUND THEM

The only thing racist about any of this is the latent racism that exists within the AP that would allow them to see anything racist with these waffles. This is some serious "white man's guilt" here:

Activists at a conservative political forum snapped up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.

Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.

The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.

MORE MUSLIM MADNESS IN MINNESOTA

We continue to follow this story:

Last week, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) and the Minnesota Department of Education appeared to reach an understanding in the controversy over whether Islam is being promoted at this public school.

But behind the scenes, a storm may be brewing.

TiZA officials have "taken a confrontational road" in discussions with the department, according to Deputy MDE Commissioner Chas Anderson, the department's No. 2 official.

Anderson says that the two sides have not yet reached an agreement on one key issue and that MDE will be closely monitoring TiZA's performance in future months.

TiZA is a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights, financed by taxpayers. Its students have scored well on standardized tests. But like all public schools, it may not encourage or endorse religion, or favor one religion over another.

A number of facts raise questions about TiZA on this score. Its executive director, Asad Zaman, is an imam, or Muslim religious leader. The school shares a building with a mosque and the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society, which the Chicago Tribune has described as the American branch of the Muslim Brotherhood -- "the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group."

Most of TiZA's students are Muslim, many from low-income immigrant families. The school breaks daily for prayer, its cafeteria serves halal food (permissible under Islamic law), and Arabic is a required subject.

School buses do not leave until after-school Muslim Studies classes, which many students attend, have ended for the day.

In a report issued in May, the MDE concluded that TiZA's Friday prayer event violated the law and since then has been working with the school to make changes.

"We wanted TiZA to do Friday prayers the way all other public schools" handle similar activities -- "as release time, under state law," said Anderson. In a release-time arrangement, students move off-site for religious activities.

But TiZA said no, according to Anderson. Instead, the school will continue to hold Friday prayer on its premises. Students will lead prayer and staff will be present only "to ensure student safety," said Zaman in a letter to the MDE.

IRANIANS HOPING FOR "MUSLIM" OBAMA VICTORY

If Obama is elected, then Islam will conquer the heart of the American people. So say the Iranians. From Newsmax:

Iran’s leadership has expressed “great pleasure” at the prospect of a Barack Obama victory in November, according to Menashe Amir, the Iranian-born head of Radio Israel’s Persian language service.

But Iranian President Ahmadinejad has said he doubts that the American establishment “will allow” Obama to win.

“One of the Iranian religious leaders said if Obama will enter the White House, then Islam will conquer the heart of the American nation,” Amir told Isracast.com.

The Iranian leadership likes Obama “mainly because he is a Muslim,” according to Amir. His first name, Barack, comes from “al-baraq,” which is the name of the horse that Muslims believe Muhammad rode on his way to paradise.

His middle name Hussein is also a Muslim name, and he was “born in a Muslim family,” said Amir.

“If he wins the election, Muslims will be very proud of such a conquest, such a win. He didn’t convert [to Christianity] after he was 18. It happened much, much before,” so the sharia law judgment does not apply.

THE REALITY OF CHINA'S ISLAMIC TERRORIST THREAT

I've been saying this for some time now. China is the world's public enemy #1. Accept no substitute.

Shi Dagang, a senior Communist party official in Kashgar, claimed yesterday that China faced a long struggle against terrorism, perpetrated by local and foreign separatists seeking to establish an independent state of East Turkestan in the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province. "They are trying to turn 2008 into a year of mourning for China," he said. "This is the reality that we have to face, a combination of internal and external forces, jointly coordinating a series of attacks."

As ever with terrorism, militancy and counter-terrorism, particularly when it comes to statements by officials or politicians, "reality" is a relative term.

The threat apparently came from groups called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation. But the exact nature of these groups is unclear.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Beijing joined a long list of repressive governments with Islamic minorities (or indeed majorities) around the world who suddenly discovered al-Qaida in their back garden. This of course was an extremely opportune find, as it diverted attention from any domestic causes for local violence while simultaneously releasing a flood of diplomatic and economic advantages from Washington, where President Bush's administration was in full first-term "you are with us or against us" mode.

However, desultory violence and resistance by a small minority of Uighur Muslims in China's south east had long predated 9/11. There were more than 200 attacks between1990 and 2001 in the region – all relatively low level but often lethal nonetheless. In the autumn of 2001, American troops captured 22 ethnic Uighur from China in Afghanistan and, despite denials that they were Islamic militants fighting for the Taliban or enrolled in al-Qaida, incarcerated them in Guantánamo Bay, where Chinese intelligence experts were among the first to interview them. Five were later released. Evidence against at least some of the others is not, according to at least one recent US court judgment, strong.

Nonetheless in January 2002, a Chinese government study reported that the ETIM has received money, weapons, training and other logistical support from al-Qaida. Certainly scores of Uighurs left China to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and it seems likely that ETIM leader Hahsan Mahsum was killed in raids on camps linked to al-Qaida in 2003. However, evidence of recent collaboration is difficult to find. The latest intelligence is that there are scatterings of Uighurs in Afghanistan or in the Pakistani tribal areas, but none have any rank within or even any real contact with al-Qaida proper. This is unsurprising given that Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri have never showed much interest in Chinese Muslims. But officials are right when they talk about a long struggle. The last decade has seen ideology of Islamic militancy spread in the southeast of China, leading to a spike in violence of a very fragmented, disorganised nature. The Olympic games and the media attention they attract are an incentive to strike, or at least threaten to.

The amateurish and unfocused nature of the attacks seems to confirm the unstructured nature of Uighur militancy. Of course, given the fearsome efficiency of China's security services, any greater organisation would probably be suicidal, but given the distances and lack of communication it is probably impossible anyway. They can only survive in small self-forming units which remain "below the radar" until launching their strike. If there are international ties they are as likely to be with members of what was once known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (and is now the Turkistan Islamic party) than anyone from the Middle East. The East Turkestan Liberation Organisation appears to be a new name – and an odd one given its 1960s nationalist, third-world sound. Claims of responsibility, videos full of boastful rhetoric and the occasional attack do not reveal much of the reality of what is going on in Xinjiang. Nor, sadly, do the claims of government officials.

CAN BRITAIN SURVIVE MULTICULTURALISM?

A shocking report. The fear of Islam in Britain.

ISLAMIC CLERICS KILLED WHILE ASSEMBLING BOMB IN MOSQUE

Religion of peace working its wonders in Afghanistan:

In Paktika province, which adjoins Ghazni, two men were killed when a waistcoat they were packing with bombs for use in a suicide attack exploded, the government said.

"Two mullahs (prayer leaders) were killed when a suicide vest they were building went off prematurely," said Zemarai Bashary, spokesman for the interior ministry, which handles police matters.

The pair was in a mosque near the border with Pakistan, he said.

BRITISH FORCE MUSLIM COMMANDER TO LISTEN TO PORN

Talk about torture. He can hear the porn, but he cannot see it. Oh the horror!

British soldiers forced a Shia militia commander to listen to pornographic videos, deprived him of sleep, repeatedly beat him, and kept him in solitary confinement for more than five months, according to fresh damning allegations against the conduct of UK troops in Basra.

A detailed account of the latest claims of unlawful treatment by British soldiers are contained in a 20-page witness statement, seen by the Guardian, of Ahmed Jawad al-Fartoosi, a leader of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr's militia, the Mahdi army. The Ministry of Defence said yesterday that the military police were investigating the allegations. Fartoosi was detained for more than two years, including nearly six months in solitary confinement. He was arrested in his Basra home in September 2005 and released late last year after British forces agreed to an Iraqi-sponsored deal with the militia.

He says he was beaten with rifle butts and blindfolded before he was put in a tank. For 12 hours he and his fellow detainees given no food and were prevented from going to the toilet.

He says he was taken to the British base at Shaibah, on the outskirts of Basra, where he spent 72 days in solitary confinement in a small cell with no ventilation, though he says he was provided with three cooked meals a day. On the third or fourth night, he says, soldiers brought a laptop and placed it on a window sill just outside his cell.

"After a short period of conversation in English it became clear to me that the DVD was showing porn. It was playing at the loudest possible volume. Thereafter for the next month the porn movies were played all night." He says soldiers left porn magazines for him to see by the sinks and toilets. "It was very humiliating for me to be treated in this way by the British army. If they expected me to give in to my basic instincts they did not realise that I am not that kind of man ... I was determined not be sexually aroused by this but it made me physically sick."

Oh get over it Ahmed. Sometimes you just got to grip it and rip it.

OUTRAGE: TYSON FOODS DROPS LABOR DAY HOLIDAY FOR MUSLIM HOLIDAY

Suddenly, I don't feel much like buying their meat products.

Workers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall.

A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant."

The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."

Tyson's Director of Media Relations, Gary Mickelson, stated that while the new contract does not provide an additional holiday, as the union claimed, "the new contract includes eight paid holidays, which is the same number provided in the old contract."

"However, the union leadership did request and receive Eid al-Fitr (which is apparently spelled various ways including Id al-Fitr and Eid ul-Fitr) as a paid holiday in place of Labor Day," Mickelson confirmed in an e-mail to the T-G.

Boycott Tyson! It's easy to do.

BRAZIL: MUSLIM TEEN TOOK PICTURES OF BRITISH GIRL AFTER KILLING HER AND CHOPPING HER TO PIECES

Let me go ahead and recommend a punishment. Place him with the general prison population until that fuc*ing smile comes off his face.

The dismembered body of a 17-year-old British girl was found in a suitcase after she was murdered in Brazil, allegedly by a man who had hoped to marry her.

The torso of Cara Marie Burke, from Southfields, southwest London, was identified by her mother from a photograph of a distinctive tattoo that said “Mum.”

Mohamed D’Ali Carvalho dos Santos, 20, allegedly admitted photographing Cara’s dismembered corpse on his cell phone after killing her in Goiânia, central Brazil.

Dos Santos, a Brazilian of Turkish heritage, is believed to have been living in Britain illegally and had told friends that he wanted to marry Cara to obtain British citizenship.

SUPER WHACKY MUSLIM FUN TIME: IT'S A McMISCARRIAGE OF McJUSTICE

One man's journey through Islam continues...

Two Muslim women said they were denied jobs at a McDonald's restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, because they wore Islamic headscarves, according to a discrimination lawsuit filed yesterday in Wayne County Circuit Court...McAllah Mcwilling, they will get those McJobs...

For the fourth time since 2004, Six Flags in Gurnee, Illinois is sponsoring Muslim Day, bringing in outside caterers to provide halal food and turning an amphitheater into a makeshift mosque to accommodate Muslims who observe dietary laws and strict prayer schedules...I understand that Six Flags is also bringing in a few martyrs to blow themselves up at random times and random locations throughout the day...

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has launched a discussion forum on Facebook, the popular social networking website. A group of young Muslims decided to put the Muslim Brotherhood on Facebook after they received the go-ahead to do so from the Brotherhood's second-in-command, Muhammad Habib....I went to their Facebook page...They're not accepting "Friends"...only "Enemies"...

Ads promoting Islam are to be placed on New York subway cars in September...Right next to Aids prevention and Vote for Obama ads...

Islam is likely to become the primary religion in the Russian Federation by 2050 due to the high birth rate in Muslim republics...Great...another muslim country with oil and nukes...

Join me next time as I journey through Islam.

VIRTUAL JIHADIST VIDEO GAME CHALLENGES PLAYERS TO KILL PRESIDENT BUSH

And now, your douchebag of the day:

An artist's video game that is being exhibited at a free-speech exhibit in Chicago challenges players to kill the president.

The video game is part of a "confrontational art" exhibit by Chicago-based artist Wafaa Bilal.

In the 3-D game, "The Night of Bush Capturing; A Virtual Jihadi," players are sent on a mission to kill President George W. Bush.

Bilal, 42, said his art is a personal attempt to deal with the deaths of citizens in the country of his birth. The artist said his brother died in Iraq in 2004 from a U.S bomb.

The game is part of the Freedom of Speech exhibition at FLATFILE Galleries. It runs until Aug. 22.

What a coincidence. The Big Feed is currently holding its free speech exhibition. Burn in hell you Muslim dirtbag.

See video report here.

NY MUSLIM IMMIGRANT STABS SISTER FOR BEING "FILTHY AMERICAN GIRL"

I reckon this guy didn't get the melting pot memo.

Infuriated because his younger sister was going to clubs, wearing immodest clothing and planning to leave her family for a new life in New York City, Waheed Allah Mohammad stabbed her outside their Henrietta home, prosecutors allege.

Afterward, he told Monroe County sheriff's investigators that he attacked his sister because she had disgraced their family and was a "bad Muslim girl," according to court documents.

The case is the second in four years in Monroe County in which an immigrant from South Asia is alleged to have killed or tried to kill a family member over the perceived loss of family honor — an occurrence that is not uncommon in South Asia but is rare in the United States.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, up to 5,000 women are killed each year in South Asia for allegedly disgracing their families. Some of the women are killed after becoming rape victims or rejecting arranged marriages.

On April 15, 2004, Ismail Peltek, an immigrant from Turkey, stabbed and beat his wife to death and wounded two daughters at their home in Scottsville. He told investigators that he was attempting to restore family honor that had been lost when his wife and one daughter were sexually assaulted by a relative and the other daughter was "sullied" by a medical exam.

"SUICIDE BOYS" BEING TRAINED IN PAKISTAN

"In Pakistan's Islamic boarding schools, young teenage boys are brainwashed into carrying out terrorist attacks. Most of the time, they don't even know that they will be killed along with their targets."