http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659408/posts?page=3#3
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Note: The following post is a quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1659408/posts
Priest stabbed in Turkey in third recent assault against Catholic clergy
AP ^ | July 2, 2006 | Suzan Fraser
Posted on 07/02/2006 2:13:20 PM PDT by NYer
ANKARA, Turkey – A man stabbed a Roman Catholic priest Sunday in the Black Sea port of Samsun, a church official said, in the third attack against a Catholic cleric in Turkey in recent months.
The French priest, Pierre Brunissen, 74, was injured in the hip and leg and rushed to a hospital, Monsignor Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar for Anatolia, told The Associated Press by telephone from his church in Iskenderun, southern Turkey.
Brunissen, of Samsun's Mater Dolorosa church, lost a lot of blood but his condition was not life-threatening, Padovese said.
Police immediately detained his 47-year-old attacker, the Anatolia news agency said. The man, who was identified by the initials A.N., was described as being mentally ill and had made complaints against the priest for allegedly making Christian propaganda, the agency said.
It was the third attack against a Catholic priest in predominantly Muslim Turkey since February, when a priest was killed while kneeling in prayer in his church in the nearby city of Trabzon.
Another priest, a Slovenian, was grabbed by the throat, thrown into a garden and threatened with death in the Aegean port city of Izmir.
Also, a man upset by the newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad admitted throwing a fire bomb that caused a small fire on the roof of another church in Izmir.
“I hope this has nothing to with Islamic fundamentalism,” Padovese said of the latest attack. “The climate has changed. ... It is the Catholic priests that are being targeted.”
A 16-year-old youth currently is being tried for the killing of the Rev. Andrea Santoro, 60, who was shot Feb. 5 while praying in his parish in Trabzon. Witnesses said the youth shouted “Allahu Akbar!” – Arabic for “God is great!” – before firing two bullets into Santoro's back.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060702_5561.html
Coalition in Afghanistan Rejects Reports on Civilian Casualties
American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 2, 2006 – News reports published June 30 that claimed coalition forces fired rockets in Afghanistan's Kunar province, allegedly killing a school headmaster and injuring two others, are false, military officials here said today.
A Combined Forces Command Afghanistan statement said the three people noted in news articles are, in fact, Taliban extremists responsible for conducting attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
According to the statement, three extremists attacked a coalition patrol on a road in the province's Pech district June 29, and the soldiers responded with small-arms and mortar fire, all positively observed by coalition forces. The three extremists fled in a blue Hilux truck.
Later, a blue Hilux truck was reported to have delivered three men with gunshot wounds to the Asadabad hospital. One extremist died of his wounds. The other two were taken into custody by coalition forces and are being treated for their wounds in a coalition hospital.
The man who died was identified as Sayeed Alam, the nephew of a known Taliban commander in the Pech valley. Alam is known to be a member of a cell that plants roadside bombs, officials said. The wounded were also identified as known Taliban extremists. Their names are not being released for security reasons, officials said.
"These three men were without a doubt Taliban extremists and not innocent civilians," said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force 76 spokesman. "Coalition forces make every effort to protect Afghan civilians and limit the possibility of civilian casualties. The coalition is improving the lives of Afghan people through reconstruction projects and civil and medical assistance visits to villages. The Taliban's only purpose is to stop progress and instill fear and intimidation."
(From a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release.)