Threat Matrix: April 2007

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“Warden Message: Northern Nigeria Violence”
Consular Affairs Bulletins
Sub-Saharan Africa - Nigeria
18 Apr 2007

Note: The following text is a quote:

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=66880

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Warden Message: Official Americans’ Travel Restricted April 21-22
Consular Affairs Bulletins
Sub-Saharan Africa - Nigeria
19 Apr 2007

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18 Apr 2007
Warden Message: Northern Nigeria Violence
13 Apr 2007
Warden Message: Nigeria Election-Related Violent Crime
10 Apr 2007
Worldwide Caution Public Announcement
29 Mar 2007
Nigeria Election Security Assessment
23 Mar 2007
Warden Message: Lagos Crime Advisory
U.S. Consulate General Lagos issued the following Warden Message on April 19:

This Warden message is being issued to inform American citizens in Nigeria about a noticeable increase in violent crime and of an increase in public political activities, some of which have been occasioned by violence, in connection with the upcoming elections. We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations.

Given the possibility of some localized disturbances during this period, the U.S. Consulate General Lagos has advised its American citizen personnel and family members that they must obtain prior approval from the Regional Security Officer (RSO) to travel outside of their residential compounds on Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22.

The U.S. Mission also reminds American citizens of the travel restrictions established by the Government of Nigeria during the conduct of elections on April 21. For the days not covered above, the U.S. Mission continues to recommend that American citizens avoid restaurants, bars, and night clubs between the hours of 2200 and 0600.

We have recommended that our staff evaluate their current personal contingency/emergency planning and at a minimum take the following precautions:

Fully fuel and inspect motor vehicles to ensure they are properly functioning;
Stock up on food and water so that you have sufficient stores to last several days;
Check locks and doors and remain in positive control over all keys to entry ways, doors, and locks;
Ensure mobile phones are fully charged; and
Have on hand a basic first aid kit.

We continue to advise all Americans to review their security procedures, remain vigilant to their surroundings, and report specific incidences of targeted violence to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja or the U. S. Consulate General in Lagos at the numbers below.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs internet website at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings can be found. Up to date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. Federal Holidays.)

U.S. Embassy Abuja is located at Plot 1075 Diplomatic Drive, Central Business District, Abuja; the telephone number is 09-461-4000. E-Mail: ConsularAbuja@state.gov.

The U.S. Consulate Lagos is located at 2 Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos; the telephone number is 01-261-1215. For after-hours emergencies, call 011 [234] (1) 261-1414, 261-0195, 261-0078, 261-0139, or 261-6477. E-Mail: lagoscons2@state.gov.

Website: http://nigeria.usembassy.gov

Note: The following text is a quote:

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=66515

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Turkey Explosives Detected, Defused
Safety & Security
Europe - Turkey
12 Apr 2007

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19 Apr 2007
Warden Message: Turkey Insecurity Uptick
13 Apr 2007
Turkish Airliner Hijacked
10 Apr 2007
Worldwide Caution Public Announcement
15 Mar 2007
Warden Message: Turkey Potential Violence and Unrest
24 Jan 2007
Turkey 2007 Crime & Safety Report: Istanbul
The following report is a compilation of various open source reporting:

On April 8, authorities discovered 5kg of A-4 explosives in a backpack in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. According to witnesses, a woman left the parcel in front of a store. Media reports determined the woman, a member of the Syria-based Fehman Useyin group, had been sent to Istanbul to commit a suicide attack likely targeting the Turkish National Police. A large event celebrating the 162nd anniversary of the Turkish National Police had taken place earlier that day in Taksim Square. Witnesses informed local authorities after spotting the suspect’s nervous and jittery behavior. A bomb disposal team safely defused the explosives. Reportedly, the bomb was set up to detonate by a switch, similar to the explosives used in al-Qa’ida’s November 2003 Istanbul bombings.

This incident is of particular concern because Taksim Square is a major shopping, tourist and leisure district in Istanbul, with many restaurants, shops and hotels. During recent spring and summer months, Turkey’s popular coastal cities have been targets of attacks by domestic and international groups, as noted in the U.S. Embassy Ankara and U.S. Consulate General Istanbul March 15 Warden Message. Visitors and expatriates in Turkey should maintain heightened awareness in public areas, including markets, shops, restaurants and hotels.

In addition to the April 8 Taksim Square explosive detection, a number of explosives have been discovered throughout Turkey in March and April:

April 8, Adana:

Three members of terrorist organization DHKP-C were detained in Adana. Authorities discovered and seized three pipe-type bombs, 11kg of explosives, and substances used to produce bombs. Reportedly, the suspects were making preparations for carrying out bomb attacks in Istanbul and Adana.

April 1, Van:

A female member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), suspected of transporting explosives has been captured in eastern Turkish province of Van. According to press reports, the suspect was responsible for transferring explosives brought by the PKK from Iran to Turkey’s western provinces.

March 26, Istanbul:

Authorities detained two suspected members of the PKK, seizing 10kg of explosives and documents connected to the organization. Allegedly, the suspects planned to carry out an attack in Istanbul.

March 18, Van:

Authorities captured 12 suspected rebels and seized documents linking the suspects to the PKK during simultaneous operations in Van. Electronic detonators and over 25kg of plastic explosives were confiscated in the raids. The authorities said the suspects were planning to bomb industrial facilities in the Istanbul area.

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=66951

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Warden Message: Turkey Insecurity Uptick
Consular Affairs Bulletins
Europe - Turkey
19 Apr 2007

Note: The following text is a quote:

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=66943

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Warden Message: Mindanao Bombing Threat
Consular Affairs Bulletins
East Asia / Pacific - Philippines
19 Apr 2007

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10 Apr 2007
Worldwide Caution Public Announcement
11 Jan 2007
Warden Message: Mindanao Bombings
11 Jan 2007
Warden Message: Cebu City Conferences
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Warden Message: Philippines Demonstrations December 15-17
8 Dec 2006
Warden Message: Tropical Storm Approaching Philippines
U.S. Embassy Manila issued the following Warden Message on April 19, 2007:

The Embassy has information that a terrorist group may be planning to carry out bombing attacks in central Mindanao over the next several days. Although the information does not specify a particular location, U.S. citizens should carefully consider plans to visit central Mindanao.

U.S. citizens living and working in central Mindanao are urged to reassess their personal security and to keep a low profile, and should avoid public gathering places, including high-profile events, such as the “Palarong Pambansa” Games, which will take place in Koronadal City from April 22 – 28, 2007.

For additional information, Americans should refer to the Travel Warning for the Philippines, issued June 16, 2006, as well as the Consular Information Sheet for the Philippines dated June 19, 2006.

American citizens with questions or concerns may telephone the Embassy at (63)(2) 528-6300. In case of an emergency outside business hours, American citizens may reach the Embassy duty officer through the Embassy operator at (63)(2) 528-6300. The U.S. Embassy is located at: 1201 Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines. The Consular American Citizen Services (ACS) section’s fax number is (63)(2) 522-3242 and the ACS web page is at http://philippines.usembassy.gov/wwwh3004.html .

Note: The following text (minus the photos) is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07040093.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net — E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Bible Society Library Bombed in Attacks in Gaza City

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

Interior view showing damage. Photo from Come And See, a Christian web site from Nazareth.
GAZA, PALESTINE (ANS) — The library of a Christian association was among the sites targeted in attacks, which also hit three Internet cafes in Gaza City on Sunday, April 15. All four sites were extensively damaged in pre-dawn bombings according to witnesses and security sources.

No one was wounded in the attacks, they said.

The blast at the library, property of the Baptist church, blew off the entry doors and caused extensive damage inside, a security source said.

“This is a criminal and cowardly act that casts a shadow over the entire Palestinian people,” Rami Ayad, a member of the association, told AFP. “We will not cave in and will continue our aim of helping our Palestinian society.”

In order to succeed in their work, they kidnapped the night guard, beat him and left him in a location that is considered dangerous, within the Gaza Strip. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Separately, three Internet cafes in Gaza city were also bombed, the latest of dozens that have been attacked during the past several months.

Exterior view of the bookshop.
Come and See (www.comeandsee.com) also notes that the The Palestinian Bible Society’s bookshop in Gaza was closed for few weeks in March 2006, in response to terrorists’ threats to bomb the building. To show their threat was serious, they exploded a bomb in front of the building. This time, the damage was much worse.

Julie Stahl, CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief, also confirms that the Gaza Bible Society’s bookstore was bombed early Sunday morning, causing extensive damage but no injuries.

No group has claimed responsibility for that attack — or for two other blasts that ripped through Gaza Internet cafes early Sunday. Media reports said the explosions could be the work of an extremist Muslim group that sees itself as the protector of Islam in the Gaza Strip.

There have been similar attacks on Internet cafes and music stores in recent months by a little-known Islamic groups, one of them calling itself the (Islamic) Swords of Truth, according to media reports.

The Bible Society bookshop also includes a computer center, a library and a community development center.

The British-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat said these groups see themselves as a self-appointed vice squad to stop the spread of adultery and debauchery. They apparently believe Palestinians could be accessing pornography from the Internet portals.

According to a press release from the Bible Society, masked gunman abducted the security guard outside the Bible Society and placed a large bomb at the door an hour later. The blast caused extensive damage but there were no injuries.

“Recently there have been no clear threats, so the attack comes at a very surprising time,” the statement said.

It’s not the first time that the Bible Society has been attacked. Last year, two pipe bombs exploded at the Bible Society and pamphlets were left at the site threatening the landlord for dealing with “infidels.”

There are only about 1,500 Christians living in the Gaza Strip among an estimated Palestinian Muslim population of some 1.2 million.

But an information officer from the Palestinian Bible Society said the Bible shop has had no problem with its Muslim neighbors, who came to help clean up the mess after the explosion.

The Bible Society is known and respected as one of the largest relief agencies in the area, said the official.

Since the trouble last year, the Palestinian Authority has posted an official guard outside the shop. And officials from the P.A. Ministry of Culture arrived at the shop to show their support following the explosion, the Bible Society said.

According to the information officer, restoration on the shop has already begun and workers there hope to reopen it by Tuesday.

The Palestinian Bible Society has been operating in the Gaza Strip since 1999. It is part of the world fellowship of the United Bible Societies, whose mission it is to make the Bible available in different languages and in different formats, to as many people as possible.

Ynetnews.com, quoting the Associated Press (AP) reports three explosions rocked Gaza City at around 3 a.m. Sunday morning, April 15 damaging two Internet cafes and a Christian bookstore funded by American Protestants; no injuries were reported. Palestinian security officials suspects a secret ‘vice squad’ of Muslim militants is behind the attacks.

Several similar attacks on Internet cafes and music stores in recent months have been claimed by a little-known extremist Islamic organization calling itself the “Swords of Truth.”

The officials would not speculate on the identity of the attackers behind the Sunday attacks, saying only that the incidents were under investigation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Heavy external damage was visible at the three stores. At the bookstore, which is funded by American Protestants and known as the Bible Society, a number of books were also burned in the explosion.

In recent months, about three dozen Internet cafes and shops selling pop music have been attacked in the Gaza Strip, with assailants detonating small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries.

Palestinian security officials have said they suspect a secret “vice squad” of Muslim militants is targetting the sites.

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07040092.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net — E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Christians Attacked During Easter Season

Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release

MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA (ANS) — Attacks on Christians in India intensified throughout the recent Easter season. Two Gospel for Asia missionaries and several members of a GFA-affiliated church were targeted in one of the recently-reported attacks. Missionaries Chandan Chhinchhadi and Dinesh Toppo were attacked in their home around 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday. The two men had conducted Easter services at a GFA-affiliated church earlier in the day and were resting at their home when five anti-Christian extremists stormed in and began harassing them. The attackers beat the pastors for more than an hour while accusing them of forcing people to convert to Christianity and various other crimes. The attackers even dragged our pastors to the market at the center of the village in an attempt to humiliate them.

The next day, the pastors tried to report the incident to the local authorities, but the extremists prevented them from entering the police station. The extremists even filed a false report against the pastors. That same day, the police came to Chandan and Dinesh and said that, for their own safety they should come to the police station. They also brought along three believers from the church. However, once they reached the police station, all of them were arrested and they were put in jail.
The attackers beat the pastors for more than an hour while accusing them of forcing the people to convert to Christianity and various other crimes.

The extremists are also inciting the villagers, telling them to kill the believers and to burn down their homes.
GFA leaders from a nearby office came to the police station late that night and pleaded with officials to release the pastor and believers, who were innocent of any crime. The police agreed to release them, but for their own safety would not let them go that night. During the time the pastor and believers were in jail, two truckloads of anti-Christian extremists had gathered outside the police station and were waiting to attack the Christians. A few hours later the situation calmed down and the pastor and believers were released and taken to a regional GFA facility for their own safety.

The next day, the GFA leaders once again attempted to file a police report about the beatings, but the police refused to accept the report.

Complicating matters for the five who were arrested is the fact that one of them, a woman who is a government employee, is being singled out for threats-the extremists are trying to have her fired from her job.

The extremists are also inciting the villagers, telling them to kill the believers and to burn down their homes.

This incident comes just one week after children in a Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope center in Manipur, India, were caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between opposing insurgent groups.

This is not the first time Christians in India have faced persecution during the Easter season. On Easter Sunday 2006, anti-Christian extremists stormed into a GFA-affiliated church in Karnataka, India, and attacked the GFA missionary who serves there. The extremists also attacked about 35 believers in the church, including the women and children. They even ransacked the church, the pastor’s home and his vehicle.

Several other Easter-related attacks were reported this year in India, including:
· Anti-Christian extremists attacked Christians who were praying at another church in Madhya Pradesh on Palm Sunday.
· In another area of Madhya Pradesh, extremists attacked a group comprised mostly of children during a Palm Sunday procession. Two people in that group suffered serious head injuries as a result of the attack.
· In Andhra Pradesh, an unidentified group brutally attacked a Christian worker while he was returning from a Lenten prayer meeting at a believer’s home. The attackers covered the man’s face with a mask and tortured him for three hours, while accusing him of being a terrorist. They dragged the man to a schoolyard where they continued to beat him and tried to strangle him.
· Uttar Pradesh police arrested a Christian pastor on false charges on Maundy Thursday. The pastor was charged with paying families to convert to Christianity. The pastor was jailed for one day and ordered to pay a small fine before being released.

Gospel for Asia missionaries and leaders in Madhya Pradesh request prayer for God’s intervention and protection of the believers who were arrested on Easter and the days following. They have all now returned to their homes, but are living under threat of continued violence. Pray especially for the government employee whose job is in danger. The believers and pastors also need prayer for strength and boldness as they live under continued threats from the extremists.

The believers and leaders in Madhya Pradesh are asking God to grant them favor from the police. They also request prayer that God would change the hearts of the extremists who are persecuting them and that the extremists would come to know Jesus.

Christians came under attack on Easter last year, too.

Why are native missionaries so effective?

Learn about Gospel for Asia’s work in Madhya Pradesh
Gospel for Asia is a mission organization involved in evangelism and church planting in Asia’s unreached regions. Currently Gospel for Asia supports more than 16,000 church planters in 10 countries.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1161.html

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Fri Apr 20 2007 03:44:40 GMT-0700.

Worldwide Caution

April 10, 2007

Citing terror threat, U.S. boosts security in Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Germany said on Friday it was increasing security at its facilities in response to what it described as an increased threat of terrorism in the country.

“U.S. diplomatic and consular facilities in Germany are increasing their security posture,” the embassy said in a statement sent by email.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070420/ts_nm/usa_germany_security_dc

I was in Sacramento, oh, 20 or so years ago. It was lovely.

I've been here for a little over 10 and things have changed a lot in that short period.

The partially Al-Qaeda driven insurgent “Islamic Republic of Iraq” has also formed a “shadow cabinet” inside Iraq.

A government in exile should be the first step to confront the Mullahs in Iran.

Thanks for the ping

http://alanpetersnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2007/04/racist-hispanic-school.html

See the humorous “photo comment” on AntiMullah at the end of the same article posted there.

***Arizona State Capitol Evacuated*** Downtown Phoenix

Johnson Space Center Shut Down after gunman in bldg..

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/