Algerians go to the polls on Thursday to elect a new parliament amid concerns that a low turnout will mar a vote which officials say is necessary to maintain stability. The election comes as the North African country grapples with a deep financial crisis because of a drop in oil revenues and amid criticism from … Read more
Four suspected Islamist fighters blew themselves up at a hideout in Bangladesh, ending a 24-hour standoff, police said Friday. Police raided the house in the northern town of Shibganj late Wednesday on a tip-off that extremists were hiding out there, triggering a tense standoff that ended with explosions and gunfire late Thursday. “The four militants … Read more
When Pope Francis visits Egypt’s Al-Azhar this week, he will find support for his message of peace in the venerable Islamic authority praised as a bulwark against extremism. But his visit comes as Al-Azhar, which runs one of the world’s oldest universities, is under fire from critics within Egypt who say the Sunni Muslim institution … Read more
Bangladesh has approved a project to build hundreds of mosques with almost $1 billion from Saudi Arabia, an official said Wednesday, worrying minorities who fear they could be used to spread fundamentalist Islam. The government plans to construct 560 mosques — one in every town in Bangladesh — as the secular administration woos Islamist groups … Read more
US Vice President Mike Pence Thursday praised Indonesia’s moderate form of Islam as ‘an inspiration’ at the start of a visit to the Muslim-majority country seen as a bid by his administration to heal divisions with the Islamic world. It came as he visited the largest mosque in Indonesia, which has the world´s biggest Muslim … Read more
US Vice President Mike Pence Thursday praised Indonesia’s moderate form of Islam as “an inspiration” at the start of a visit to the Muslim-majority country seen as a bid by his administration to heal divisions with the Islamic world. It came ahead of a visit by Pence to the largest mosque in Indonesia, which has … Read more
US Vice President Mike Pence will visit the largest mosque in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation — Indonesia — on Thursday, a symbolic gesture for the deputy in an administration accused of stoking Islamophobia. Pence will tour the Istiqlal Mosque and hold a multi-faith dialogue during the first day of a visit to Jakarta, … Read more
Polling has closed in a run-off election for the post of Jakarta’s governor, seen by many as a key test for Indonesia’s secular identity. The candidates are incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, and Anies Rasyid Baswedan, a Muslim. Critics of Mr Purnama have accused him of blasphemy, heightening racial and religious … Read more
Five Malian soldiers have been killed by suspected Islamist militants on Tuesday in the northern city of Timbuktu, BBC Afrique reports. According to an official statement, the soldiers were killed in a raid carried out at dawn on a camp in the remote Gourma Rharous area about 120 km (75m) from Timbuktu. Officials have blamed … Read more
The Tunisian branch of the radical Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, which calls for Islamic law and wants to unify Muslims into a caliphate, said Saturday it was time to “bury” democracy. “Democracy no longer attracts anyone,” the movement’s politburo chief Abderraouf Amri told its annual conference. “It is time to announce its death and work … Read more
For years, Egyptian Copt Michel Fahmy could hear a Muslim preacher invoking God’s wrath on Christians in sermons blared over loudspeakers from a mosque near his home. The radical message, he says, is a reason for jihadist attacks on his minority like the twin bombings of churches on Sunday that killed 45 people. Sunday’s attacks … Read more
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been accused of “kowtowing” to hardline Islamists after expressing dislike for a controversial statue that religious radicals want removed from the Supreme Court. The statue of “lady justice” has ruffled feathers in the Muslim-majority nation, with hardliners staging massive protests in recent weeks against what they say is a … Read more
A top Islamist extremist under sentence of death has lost his last hope of avoiding the gallows after Bangladesh’s president rejected a mercy plea, an official said on Sunday. Bangladesh’s highest court last month upheld a 2008 death sentence on Mufti Abdul Hannan and two associates for an attack on a shrine that left three … Read more
Morocco’s new government is set to be dominated by officials close to the palace despite the premier hailing from the country’s ruling Islamist party. King Mohamed VI on Wednesday announced the new line-up to be led by Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othman, second-in-command of the Justice and Development Party (PJD). Local press on Thursday said … Read more
Morocco’s King Mohamed VI on Wednesday named a new government headed by a member of the ruling Islamist party, following a six-month political deadlock in the North African country. Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othman, second-in-command of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) that triumphed in October elections, will lead a cabinet comprised of Islamists, liberals … Read more
With his blue eyes, brown hair and beaming smile, young Michael Delefortrie looked every inch the angelic altar boy. But fast forward twenty years, and Michael had changed his name to Younnes, traded his Christian faith for Islam, and the sleepy Belgian suburb he’d grown up in for the front lines of ISIS’ war in … Read more
A senior army officer who headed the intelligence wing of Bangladesh’s elite security force died Friday, days after he was injured in a bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Lieutenant Colonel Abul Kalam Azad was on life support and flown to Singapore on Sunday a day after he was critically injured in an … Read more
Bangladesh security forces found the scattered body parts of up to eight people including women and possibly children when they stormed an Islamist hideout on Thursday, police said. Security forces entered the building after a two-day stand-off with armed fighters believed to be from a new faction of an extremist group the government has blamed … Read more
Bangladesh police came under grenade attack when they raided two suspected Islamist extremist hideouts on Wednesday, days after a major anti-militant drive in which 10 people were killed. Police said counter-terrorism officers raided two houses in Moulvibazar district in the northeast after receiving a tip-off that extremists were sheltering there. A stand-off ensued, with those … Read more
An explosion killed an Egyptian man on Friday in Cairo, the interior ministry said. The blast in the Maadi district, caused by a “strange metal device”, killed a 35-year-old doorman as he cleaned a garden, the ministry said in a statement. His wife and two sons were injured in the explosion. Islamist militants have set … Read more