Posted on 03/21/2005 1:40:41 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
DOHA, Qatar (AP) -
Qataris in traditional flowing robes and foreigners in jeans and business suits rallied Monday in a state-organized show of indignation and unity against terrorism near the site of a suicide bombing that killed a British teacher and wounded 12 other people.
A previously unknown militant group, Jund al-Sham, posted a statement on an Islamic Web site claiming it carried out the attack to start a campaign against those who "desecrate the soil of the land of Islam."
Many demonstrators said they wanted everyone to know foreigners are welcome in the Persian Gulf state and terrorists are not. Banners at the demonstration read: "Western Expatriates We Love You. Your Security is Our Concern."
"We love all Westerners and we don't want this to happen again in our country," said Khalifa al-Tamimi, an employee of state-owned Qatar Petroleum. "Whoever did this is illiterate and uncivilized. Surely this is not the work of Qatari people."
The explosion occurred outside the Doha Players Theater production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." It killed Jonathan Adams, a British teacher who directed the show and was watching it with his family.
Adams had heard a revving car and went outside to check when the explosion occurred, so he caught the full force of the blast, according to an Australian protester, Pauline Furlong, who said she knew Adams.
Authorities have blamed the attack on Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali, an Egyptian computer programmer who worked in Qatar for five years.
In Cairo, relatives dressed in black arrived at the home of his family to offer condolences.
"I do not believe he did it," Ali's mother, Kawthar el-Sayyed, said. "Whoever did the attack might have stolen his car or stolen his name."
She said her son never spoke about holy war or suicide and she could not believe he would abandon his children. "He prays and fasts just like any regular Muslim," she said with tears in her eyes.
El-Sayyed said she hoped her son's name had come up by mistake. She said four Egyptian police officers searched her apartment Sunday but did not take anything.
The Internet claim of responsibility, which could not be verified, called the attack a "historic" operation and criticized Arab leaders for allowing Western military bases and churches on their territories.
The claim made no mention of the al-Qaida terror network, but denied any links with militants in the Palestinian territories or Lebanon. A small Islamic group of the same name emerged in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon last year.
In Qatar, some of the 50 Westerners who participated in the protest said they feared for the country's future.
"I was not worried when I got here. But now I'm really worried about staying," Furlong said.
The anti-terrorism rally, which drew about 2,000 demonstrators, was similar to tactics used by the governments of other Gulf nations to mobilize public opinion against militants.
In Saudi Arabia, the state-guided media has featured stories of families of suicide attackers condemning their sons and TV documentaries have portrayed the agony of the families of the victims. Prominence also has been given to clerics describing terrorist attacks as un-Islamic.
Qatari papers carried full-page newspaper ads Monday condemning the blast and offering condolences to Adams' widow and children.
At the Egyptian Embassy, charge d'affaires Yasser Elshawaf said it was not known if Ali was "a madman or linked to terrorist groups like al-Qaida."
Elshawaf said he expected no backlash against the 60,000 Egyptians in Qatar, many of whom work as engineers, doctors or professors.
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If only the natives that march against this would get a clue and dump islam.. Until then it's meaningless.
I'm impressed myself, see what Bush has wrought, got to love it....Muslims who aren't afraid to go against the terrorists/Islamists, happen more and more everyday, that is the way to win the war on terror......
When the Syrians organized a demonstration in Lebanon, not a word.
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