What's new

Minnesota mosque bombing: Pressure grows on Donald Trump to condemn crime as terror attack

WebGuru

Senior ODI Player
Joined
Mar 4, 2013
Runs
21,339
Post of the Week
3
Minnesota governor quick to describe explosion as 'criminal act of terror'

Pressure is growing on Donald Trump to condemn the bombing of a Minnesota mosque as an act of terrorism.

The FBI are searching for a perpetrator who threw an improvised explosive device through the window of an imam's office at the Dar Al Farooq mosque in Bloomington.

Police were called shortly after 5am on Saturday following reports of an explosion as worshippers prepared for morning prayers.

The blast damaged a room and shattered windows, but no one was hurt.

Minnesota governor Mark Dayton on Sunday morning visited the mosque and described the bombing as a "criminal act of terrorism".

He also described it as a "unthinkable, unforgivable" hate crime.

"What a terrible, dastardly, cowardly act was committed," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump came under heavy fire for staying silent on the issue.

"The moment the smallest attack happens at an evangelical church in the US, Trump will stop everything and get on TV, but a mosque — silence," said one Twitter user.

The FBI is trying to determine whether the incident was a hate crime, while Islamic leaders said the bombing had left them fearful of future attacks.

"We feel like it's much deeper and scarier than like something random," said the mosque's director, Mohammed Omar. "It's so scary."

The mosque opened in 2011 at the site of a former elementary school and serves people primarily from the area's large Somali community. Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the US, roughly 57,000 people, according to the latest census figures.

The US Department of Homeland Security on Saturday released a statement saying it "fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution".

The bombing came amid increased reports of anti-Muslim crimes, including arson attacks and vandalism at mosques.

Last week, an Islamic cemetery in Minnesota was sprayed with profanities and swastikas. One spray-painted message reportedly said: "Leave, you R dead."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has offered a $10,000 (£7,700) reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the bomber. It has called for mosques and Islamic centres to improve their security in the wake of the attack.



Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...tack-condemn-pressure-criticism-a7880201.html
 
The President who'd be "better for Muslims" according to experts on here still hasn't condemned the attack.
 
The President who'd be "better for Muslims" according to experts on here still hasn't condemned the attack.

Hilary Clinton would have been just as bad, if not worse.
 
Hilary Clinton would have been just as bad, if not worse.

Sure, that's why under Trump civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria have already in eight months eclipsed those from eight years of the Obama Presidency.
 
A militia group leader, who was convicted of the 2017 bombing of a mosque outside of Minneapolis that "terrorised" the community of Somali immigrants it served, was sentenced on Monday to 53 years in prison.

Emily Claire Hari, 50, was found guilty in December, after a five-week trial, on five federal charges related to the pipe bombing of the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Centre in Bloomington, Minnesota, while worshipers were in the building for morning prayers. No one was hurt in the bombing.

"Emily Claire Hari, 50, formerly known as Michael Hari, was sentenced to life in prison for the August 5, 2017, bombing of the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Centre in Bloomington, Minnesota", the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

In handing down the sentence on Monday, United States District Judge Donovan Frank described the attack orchestrated by Hari as a "highly sophisticated and premeditated act of domestic terrorism".

"Diversity is the strength of this country," Frank said. "Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand the constitutional promise of this country that brings a lot of people here."

Hari and two accomplices, all from Clarence, Illinois, about 56 kilometres north of Champaign-Urbana, were arrested by FBI agents in March 2018.

All three were indicted the following June, but the other two, Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris, pleaded guilty to their roles in the bombing in January 2019.

Prosecutors had earlier described Hari as the ringleader who recruited the others into a militia group called "The White Rabbits" and drove a rented pickup truck more than 805km on Aug 4 and 5, 2017 to bomb the Islamic centre.

"Hari sought to terrorise an entire faith community. Today's sentence makes clear that such acts of hate-fuelled terror will not be tolerated," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement late on Monday.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1646332/m...-2017-mosque-bombing-in-us-state-of-minnesota
 
These far-right terrorists are dangerous and should be heavily monitored.

These groups need to be dealt with before they become too big.
 
Back
Top