Islamic terrorists attempting to take over Iraq are showing their blood lust by posting videos online of their extreme violence against Christians and others who do not follow their extremist views.
The U.S. State Department has taken note that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has committed a mass murder of Iraqi troops.
“The claim by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that it has massacred 1,700 Iraqi Shia air force recruits in Tikrit is horrifying and a true depiction of the blood lust that these terrorists represent,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. “While we cannot confirm these reports, one of the primary goals of ISIL is to set fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people.”
The United Nations has said that a half million people have fled the city of Mosul after last week’s capture by the Islamic extremists.
President Obama informed Congress on Monday that approximately 275 U.S. troops will be deployed to support U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy located in Baghdad. Iran reportedly has sent 500 Revolutionary Guard troops into the country to help the Iraqi government.
Christians throughout Iraq have suddenly found their lives in danger as Islamic extremists attempt to overthrow the government.
The Al-Qaeda related group Islamic State of Iraq has launched a military style offensive against the Iraqi government, taking over the cities of Mosul and Maiji. The cities allow them to control the nation’s largest oil refinery and over $425 million in gold stored in the Mosul central bank.
In addition to the attempt to overthrow the government, they have been killing Christians who refuse to convert to Islam.
“What we are living and what we have seen over the last two days is horrible and catastrophic. The priory of Mar Behnam and other churches fell into the hands of the rebels this morning … and now they have come here and entered Qaraqosh five minutes ago, and we are now surrounded and threatened with death … pray for us,” Fr. Najeeb Michaeel wrote online from Mosul.
“Many thousands of armed men from the Islamic Groups of Da’ash (another name for ISIS or ISIL) have attacked the city of Mosul for the last two days. They have assassinated adults and children. The bodies have been left in the streets and in the houses by the hundreds, without pity. The regular forces and the army have also fled the city, along with the governor.”
After the last decade of attacks from Islamists, the number of Christians in Iraq has fallen from 1.5 million to less than 400,000.
In their latest round of terror and blasphemy against Christ, terrorist group al-Qaeda has taken to hanging murder victims on crosses for public display.
A Syrian opposition group said that al-Qaeda based Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killed dozens in the Syrian city of Ar-Raqqah and then hung the bodies on crosses with messages warning against standing up against Islamists.
Abu Ibrahim Alrquaoui, the head of a group called Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Slowly, says the move is the latest attempt by the Islamists to control the region through fear tactics.
“They want to stay in control,” Alrquaoui told Fox News. “Everything they do is to scare people. That’s why they kill people publicly.”
Jihadists across Syria have been resorting to the tactic of hanging victims on crosses for the last few months. Most of the victims are not actually left to die hanging on the crosses but are rather shot in the head after being lifted up.
The official media outlet for the terrorist group al-Qaeda is planning an English language magazine aimed at “Western Jihadists.”
In a video posting to YouTube, the group quotes American Muslim leader Malcolm X and then introduces the new magazine they call “Resurgence.”
The media group, al-Sahab, is the same group that has been releasing videos and messages from Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri for years. They also help produce another magazine written for middle eastern jihadists with instructions on carrying out attacks and preparations for the assaults.
Observers say the announcement gives further proof of a break between senior Al-Qaeda leadership and groups in Syria and Iraq that had aligned with the international terror network.
The group is also trying to re-establish itself as the world leader when it comes to Islamic jihadism.
Amid a resurgence of the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda in his country, Iraqi ambassador to the United States LukmanFaily is taking aim at the administration.
Faily told the Washington Times that the current U.S. administration does not understand the danger coming from Al-Qaeda and that they need to step up and provide more help to the Iraqi government.
Al-Qaeda seized control of the city of Fallujah last week and controls parts of the city of Ramadi. The group has said that Iraq is now an Islamic state under their control. Iraqi government forces along with Sunni Muslim groups throughout the region are fighting to dislodge the terrorists before they can fortify strongholds.
Faily said leaders in both U.S. political parties need to stop holding up much needed military and nation-building support as part of domestic political infighting.
“I personally think that it’s tragic that the issue of the whole American project in Iraq is now becoming a ball in relations to the party politics within D.C.,”Failysaid. “I don’t think it’s beneficial for the United States. It’s definitely not beneficial for Iraq to become a tool in Republican versus Democrat or whomever. This is not helpful for U.S. security, it is not helpful for us, it is not helpful for the region.”
Days after the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda seized control of Fallujah, Iraq, the terrorists attacked Iraqi special forces in the suburbs of the town.
Military officials did not give casualty totals but said that the assault began following the kidnapping of an army officer and four soldiers.
The terrorists gained control of Fallujah over the weekend along with part of the provincial capital of Ramadi. The cities are notorious for being locations of fierce fighting between local clans and also were the towns that American Marines called the “bloodiest battles” of the 2004 Iraq War.
Al-Qaeda has declared an Islamic state in Iraq and raised their flag over the government buildings under their control in the two cities.
In addition to the military style fighting with troops, al-Qaeda terrorists have been continuing to launch homicide bomb attacks on military checkpoints and police stations. An attack on a police station in Kirkuk killed 2 and wounded 55 today.
It was another bloody Christmas for Christians in the Iraqi capital city.
Two separate bombings in Christian parts of the city left at least 37 people dead and hundreds wounded, some critically.
A car bomb placed outside a Catholic church was detonated as parishioners were leaving Christmas mass. Officials at the bombing site say 26 people died at the scene and over 40 others were rushed to hospitals. Witnesses say it appears the bomb was remotely detonated by someone who could see the crowd leaving the building.
Two bombs also ripped through a market in the Christian section of Athorien leaving 11 people dead.
There have been no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack but the rapidly dwindling Christian community in Iraq has been a major target for Islamic extremist terrorist groups like al-Qaeda.
At least 441 people have died from terrorist attacks in Iraq this month.
Pope Francis made a statement Thursday that the Catholic Church would not accept a Middle East that is devoid of Christians.
The Pope told reporters after a meeting with patriarchs in Syria, Iran and Iraq the church would not resign itself to a Christian-free Middle East. The Pope called for “the universal right to lead a dignified life and freely practice one’s own faith to be respected.”
“Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other areas of the Holy Land sometimes overflow with tears,” The Pope said.
The number of Christians in the Middle East continues to dwindle through oppression and civil war. Christians are just 10% of the Egyptian population, 5% in Syria, 2% in Iraq and 1.2% in Palestinian territories.
The Vatican said the population of Christians in the region has shrunk more than half since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Saudi Arabian officials report that Iraqi militia attacked an outpost in the far northwestern part of the kingdom.
Six mortar bombs landed near the border post but caused no damage.
Iraq’s al-Mukhtar Army militia, a group supported by the Iranian government, admitted carrying out the attack.
“The goal was to send a warning message to Saudis to tell them that their border stations and patrol are within our range of fire,” Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army, told Reuters. He said they wanted the Saudis to stop interfering in Iraq.
He also said that Saudis and Kuwaitis had been insulting the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
Iran refused to comment on the attack. Iran and Saudi Arabia have a long history of tension and the Saudis have committed to Iran not obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The FBI is reporting that several dozen suspected terrorist bombmakers have been allowed to enter the United States under the guise of being war refugees.
The FBI discovered two al-Qaeda terrorists living in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2009 and the men admitting being part of a group that made improvised explosive devices (IEDs) targeting American troops.
The discovery of the terrorists led the FBI to back through every piece of evidence collected in Iraq connected to IEDs. The specialists looked at over 100,000 IEDs collected in war zones to find fingerprints that could be used to check against databases of refugees.
An ABC news investigation had discovered the two terrorists had slipped through the U.S. refugee screening system even though they had been detained during the war by Iraqi authorities for terrorist related activities.
State and federal officials rushed to say that despite the FBI’s “dozen of counter-terrorism investigations like [Bowling Green]” that most of the refugees from Iraq are peaceful, law abiding residents.
