Posted on 12/27/2005 12:22:20 PM PST by Dundee
Survivor tells of girls' beheadings
POSO: A thick scar running from the back of her neck to just under her right eye, the lone survivor of a machete attack in which three Christian girls were beheaded on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has spoken for the first time of her terror.
"All I could do was pray to Jesus for his help," said 16-year-old Noviana Malewa, who fled the October attack with a gaping head wound. "I was streaming with blood."
Noviana, who now lives under police guard in the Christian town of Tentena, described how the girls were taking a short cut to school through jungle and plantations when they ran into at least five masked, black-clad men. Within seconds, three of the teenagers were beheaded -- fresh victims of violence that has turned the Indonesian island into yet another front in the conflict with terrorists.
As Noviana fled bleeding, the assailants collected her friends' heads, put them in black plastic bags and then dumped them in Christian parts of the small town of Poso, one on a porch, the other two on the street.
"They were killed as if they were chickens," said Hernius Morangki, showing a journalist the spot where his daughter was decapitated. "I keep asking myself: What were my daughter's sins?"
Muslim militants are blamed for the beheadings, the most gruesome yet in a campaign of terror against Christians on Sulawesi.
Muslim-Christian violence killed almost 1000 people on Sulawesi between 2000 and 2002 and attracted Muslim militants from across Indonesia, among them members of the terror group Jemaah Islamiah.
Despite a peace deal, bombings, shootings and other attacks on Christians have continued, especially around Poso.
Former fighters and security officials say the latest attacks are carried out by Muslim islanders bent on avenging their dead from the earlier conflict, and terrorists aiming to foment a new war.
"They want to see Poso become alive with the spirit of jihad again," said Fahirin Ibnu Achmad, an Afghan-trained militant who took part in the 2000-02 war. "It is easy to recruit people who have seen their relatives slaughtered," he said, claiming to have renounced violence after spells in prison for gun-running and taking part in an attack on a Christian village.
Sulawesi is one of several islands in what some call Southeast Asia's "triangle of terror" -- a porous region encompassing the insurgency-racked southern Philippines in the north and the Maluku archipelago, itself the scene of sectarian conflict, to the west. Also nearby is heavily Muslim southern Thailand, where a two-year insurgency has left more than 1100 people dead.
The Sulawesi war has never been credibly investigated, and only a few perpetrators have stood trial. The island's Muslim and Christian communities, each numbering about half the population of 12.5 million, nurture their own histories of the conflict, casting themselves as victims.
Christian-Muslim relations were generally harmonious until 2000, when fighting spread from the Malukus. Each side killed hundreds and burned down scores of villages, among them the hilltop hamlet where Noviana and her schoolmates lived.
Religion of Peace update. This wasn't murder or attempted murder for the girls were infidels. If raped, they weren't for they aren't Muslims.
Public Service Announcement, for your information. The daily message from Allah and Islam.
Coming to a town near you! Stay tuned.
Note the article says "Muslim-Christian violence", indicting both religions for the bloodshed; when in truth it's Muslims attacking the tiny minority of Chrisitians in the region.
I'm beginning to wonder why we even bother to read the msm anymore and quote their lies in here. They hate Christians as much as the blood-thirsty muslims do.
Violent evil people are drawn to Islam I believe as it gives them a 'reason' and justification to satisfy their evil desires. Any religion that a serial killer would find a good home in is an evil religion in my opinion.
Typical of the lies of the MSM. Always remember when listening to major broadcast network news:Muslim terrorists are always "insurgents"; this implies that they have reason to kill randomly.
Heard a report on NPR this morning about Iraqi and US killed: suicide bombers (it is implied) are merely defending their country. The US are "invaders". Saddam is the "victim" of US imperalism.
I've had it.
Good catch. If this bunch in the MSM were working back in the WW2 era they'd be reporting on the "Nazi-Jewish violence."
Muslims and jihad go together like Christians and Bible study.
But if a Democrat were in the Oval Office the MSM would be emphasizing the positive news in Iraq at every opportunity, the "insurgents" would be correctly labeled as terrorists, and Saddam characterized as the brutal, Hitleresque dictator vanquished by the Democrat President hero.
Did you bother to read the article?
Sulawesi has about 12M people, split almost evenly between Christian and Muslim. Although Muslims are a large majority in the entire country, they are not in this region.
Both sides claim they were the victims of unprovoked aggression in the previous violence.
Personally, I would put my money on the Muslims as more to blame, but Christians hardly have an unbroken history of nonviolence.
The apologists for islam will blather about how islam is being hijacked and real muslims who realize that such cruelty is quite effective will never question what kind of god would condone the spreading of his religion by demonic means.
All sane people know the world is at war with an enemy of infinite treachery...and this world will never rest until islam is no more. It would be easier to domesticate a mad dog than to reform or defang this ancient weapon of Satan.
These are the brave warriors of Islam at work: Hide in the grass until school girls walk by and murder them.
What bravery, what machismo, what devotion to Allah!
Too bad they arent fighting school girls now in Iraq. I suspect the US Military has proven themselves to be a bit more sturdy.
"Religion ofPeacePieces update..."
Please no. I pray this will never come to our country. NEVER.
I'm sorry to tell you then. It already has. Not far from me in Jersey City, NJ a family was executed including the children. The father had been known as an outspoken Arab Christian who condemned the violence of Muslims in the Middle East.
No arrests have been made to date. A local merchant in my town was very sad and all I could do is extend my deepest sympathies. He felt it extra hard because he is a Coptic Christian from Egypt. And they know very well about the persecution from the religion of peace faithful.
Praying alone will not stop it. It must be augmented by arms. I think the US should be spending money helping non Muslim groups fight Muslim aggression. We should be arming the Sudanese, the Christian Indonesians, non Muslim Nigerians, Christian Filipinos. These groups will fight, and these groups will thank us for the help, unlike the Arabs, Europeans, Koreans, and etc who took our sacrifices for granted.
There are no words to express what I feel as I read this report. May God's justice prevail.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year"
...for slaughtering innocent Christians, apparently...
She did not die because of her sins, she died because of those of the murderers; the sins of envy, pride and hatred.
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