Posted on 06/24/2002 12:53:38 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Paper: Italian Church Attack Plotted
Sun Jun 23,10:21 AM ET
ROME (AP) - Suspected Islamic militants were plotting an attack on a northern Italian church that has been the subject of protests by Muslims in the past, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Milan daily Corriere della Sera said the San Petronio basilica in Bologna was targeted apparently because it contains a 15th century fresco that depicts Islam's prophet Muhammad in Hell, being devoured by demons.
Last year, a group of Italian Muslims appealed unsuccessfully to the Vatican ( news - web sites) to have the fresco by Giovanni da Modena removed or parts of it covered, arguing that it offended Islam.
The group, the Union of Muslims in Italy, denied any link to the plot to attack the church on Sunday and questioned the report's veracity, president Adel Smith told The Associated Press.
"We send letters and stage protests," Smith said. "It's obvious that we have nothing to do with this thing."
Corriere said Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police learned of the plot by intercepting phone conversations as part of a larger investigation into Muslim militants operating in Italy.
That investigation led to the convictions earlier this year of seven Tunisians in Milan who were accused of giving logistical support to al-Qaida recruits passing through Europe.
The Tunisians were also accused by prosecutors of links to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, a dissident faction of the Armed Islamic Group, Algeria's most radical insurgency movement. The United States has branded the Salafist group a terrorist organization and ordered its assets frozen.
The wiretaps indicated that starting in February, members of the Milan cell began plotting an attack on the Bologna church on orders of Salafist leader Hassan Hattab, Corriere said. Specific details, however, were never discussed.
In calls placed to Carabinieri offices in Milan and Bologna Sunday, officials said no one was available to confirm the report.
Over the course of the investigation, authorities learned details of a Libyan in Italy, identified only as Amsa, who allegedly was sent by Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s al-Qaida network to coordinate activities of the various cells operating in the country, Corriere said.
Based on information passed onto Britain from the CIA ( news - web sites) and Italian intelligence, Amsa was arrested three weeks ago in London on charges of having false documents, Corriere said. Scotland Yard said Sunday it had no information on the arrest.
Sucks to be him!
Are prints of this available?
Don't know if this is the one. It IS by Modena, and it IS from the basilica in Bologna, but the site was in Italian.
ping
I hope that in his final moments Mohammed comprehended his error and turned his soul over to Christ. I don't want anybody to go to Hell. Nevertheless: if the Moslems hate it, I'm generally for it. Art lover ping.
Yours in Christian Fraternity,
And change those fan belts (the ones holding the dishtowels to their heads!)
As Belloc pointed out, Mohammed is indeed a heretic, not a pagan: Mohammedanism was a heresy: that is the essential point to grasp before going any further. It began as a heresy, not as a new religion. It was not a pagan contrast with the Church; it was not an alien enemy. It was a perversion of Christian doctrine. Its vitality and endurance soon gave it the appearance of a new religion, but those who were contemporary with its rise saw it for what it was: not a denial, but an adaptation and a misuse, of the Christian thing. -- [Belloc, The Great Heresies]This is why you'll never catch me jumping on the "Moon God" bandwagon; as Belloc shows, the Moslems are playing for the same team as we are -- but have been fatally deceived as to the rules of the game. Interestingly, Belloc goes on to point out the many similarities in nature between the "Mohammedan heresy" and another, more familiar heresy -- Calvinism.
But I digress.
We should all ask the Blssed Virgin to pray for the end of the Islamic heresy and the return of its adherents to the worship of our True God and True Man, Jesus Christ. In the meantime, let's keep the Rosary in our hands and the martial spirit of Tours and Lepanto in our hearts. Deus Vult!
Yours in Christian Fraternity,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.