Church bells tolled and prayers were chanted at 8:45 a.m., the time when bombs were detonated almost simultaneously at two Roman Catholic churches and a Protestant church during Easter services on April 21, 2019. Bombs were also set off at three top hotels targeting locals and foreigners who were eating breakfast.

More than 260 people, including 171 from the two Catholic churches, were killed in the attacks, which were blamed on two local Islamic extremist groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Read More

The mass was celebrated in Notre Dame Basilica on Nov. 1 by Nice Bishop André Marceau. He was joined by Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille and Archbishop Dominique-Marie David of Monaco.

The rite was necessary to purify the church from the stain of a "gravely injurious act."

The ritual was required before normal religious activities could resume, according to a statement on the website of the Diocese of Nice.

Amid high security, the bishops, joined by priests of the diocese, wore penitential purple for the evening event.

The rite began when the church, with its altar stripped and bare, was plunged into darkness.

The interior of the church was then blessed with holy water before the lights were turned on again. The bishops had changed their vestments to white to signify the Resurrection.

Bishop Marceau condemned the violence that had desecrated the basilica.

"The stones cannot cry out their horror," he said. "The abomination of the terrorist act marred the destination and vocation of this place.

Photographs of the three victims were displayed in the church. The faithful were encouraged to light candles for them.

Vincent Loquès, 55, the sacristan, died inside the church along with Nadine Devillers, 60.

Brazilian-born Simone Barreto Silva, 44, died in a nearby cafe after fleeing with stab wounds. Her last words were reported to be, "Tell my children I love them."

The alleged offender, Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, had entered France after arriving on a migrant boat to Italy in September. He was arrested at the scene and is in a critical condition in hospital from multiple gunshot wounds.

Five others, ages 25-63, have since been arrested in Nice and nearby Grasse in connection with the killings.

They are suspected of assisting Aoussaoui after he was dispatched to France to carry out the attack, according to the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

The is the second significant Nice terror attack. In 2016 a truck was driven through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day. The attack resulted in the deaths of 86 people and injury to 458 others.

In another attack at a French church on Oct. 31, a Greek Orthodox priest was shot and badly injured in the French city of Lyon. No motive for the shooting has been discovered.

Sources

The Tablet

France24

Holding his in the library of the Apostolic Palace, the pope described the violence in Nice and Vienna as "deplorable acts that aim to compromise fraternal collaboration between religions".

He called for prayers of those who suffered and died in the terror attacks that he said was "an escalation of cruelty".

"In these days in which we pray for the deceased, let us remember the helpless victims of terrorism that has led to an escalation of cruelty that is spreading in Europe", Francis said.

Read More

He was giving the homily at a service to remember the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka.

"Speak out and be very clear that the extremists and the terrorists do not dictate or determine the conversation of interfaith dialogue and relations.

"The Sri Lankan community is small but deeply hurting, so it's important that we as a nation surround them with our love and our prayer," he said.

About 300 people from different faiths and communities lit candles and prayed during the special mass at St Mary's Catholic Church in Northcote on Saturday night.

The Mass was led by the assistant priest at St Mary's, Father Jude Algama, who was originally from Sri Lanka.

He said this week had been a very difficult time for his nation and also his local community in Auckland.

"They are really in a very desperate situation, crying and in pain and in fear.

"We have lost peace which we were enjoying the last few years after our civil war," he said.

A service was also held at St Peter and Paul's Church in Lower Hutt on Saturday evening.

A spokesperson for New Zealand's United Sri Lanka Association, Dr Chula Rajapakse, said the service was to show solidarity for those affected by the bombings.

Earlier in the week at the Anzac Day service in Auckland, Msgr Kiely had offered a prayer for the victims of suicide bombing attacks in Sri Lanka.

He asked for a moment's silence "to pray for our brothers and sisters affected by the atrocities in Christchurch and Sri Lanka.

"We pray for those who have grieved, for those who have died, for the wounded and for those disabled in body and mind," he said.

Source

• www.dailymail.co.uk
• radionz.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• Image: impic.ie

Since 2010, for example, there have been at least 27 deadly attacks in places of worship.

The following timeline offers a sample of these attacks.

July 16, 2010: 27 killed and 270 injured after a double suicide bombing against a Shiite mosque in southeastern Iran.

Oct. 31, 2010: militants attack a Catholic church in Baghdad during Sunday night mass, killing 58 people.

Dec. 15, 2010: Two suicide bombers blow themselves up near a mosque in southeastern Iran, killing six others.

Aug. 5, 2012: Six members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin are fatally shot by a white supremacist.

Nov. 18, 2014: Two Palestinians using axes, knives and a gun kill four Jewish worshippers and an Israeli police officer in a Jerusalem synagogue.

Jan. 30, 2015: Suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Pakistan kills 71.

March 20, 2015: Suicide bombers attack two mosques in Yemen's capital, killing 137 people.

June 17, 2015: Nine black worshippers, including a pastor, were killed after their killer prayed with them in South Carolina.

Sept. 24, 2015: A suicide bomber strikes a mosque in Yemen's rebel-held capital, killing 25 worshippers during prayers.

Nov. 12, 2016: Suicide bomber kills over 50 at a shrine in Pakistan.

Dec. 11, 2016: Suicide bomber strikes inside a Cairo chapel adjacent to the seat of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church. The attack killed at least 25 people.

Jan. 29, 2017: A gunman kills six men during evening prayers at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City.

Feb. 16, 2017: Suicide bomber detonates his explosives vest at a shrine in Pakistan, killing 98.

April 9, 2017: Twin suicide bombings in Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Tanta kill at least 45 people.

June 15, 2017: A suicide bomber kills four people at a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan.

Aug. 1, 2017: A suicide bomber opens fire on worshippers during evening prayers at the largest Shiite mosque in Afghanistan's western Herat province, before blowing himself up and killing at least 90 people and wounding hundreds more.

Aug. 25, 2017: Militants attack a packed Shiite mosque in Kabul during Friday prayers, killing 28 worshippers and wounding 50, many of them children.

Sept. 29, 2017: A suicide bomber blows himself up outside a Shiite mosque in Kabul, killing five. The attack took place as worshippers were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers.

Oct. 20, 2017: A suicide bomber attack kills 31 and wounds 29 at a Shiite mosque in Kabul.

Nov. 5, 2017: A lone gunman opens fire at a Baptist Church in Texas, killing 26 people and wounding about 20 others.

Nov. 24, 2017: Militants kill 311 worshippers in a mosque attack in north Sinai.

Dec. 17, 2017: An attack on a church in Quetta, Pakistan, kills 16 people.

Aug. 3, 2018: Suicide bombers attack a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan, killing 27 people.

Oct. 27, 2018: A gunman believed to have spewed anti-Semitic slurs and rhetoric on social media entered a synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 and wounding six, including four police officers.

Jan. 27, 2019: Two suicide attackers detonate two bombs during a Mass in a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines, killing 23 and wounding about 100 others.

30 January, 2019: An attacker hurls a grenade in a mosque in the southern Philippines, killing two.

March 15, 2019: At least 49 people are killed in an attack at mosques in Christchurch.

Source

• Japan Times
• Pakistan Today
• Image: News.com.au

According to The New York Times, the priest was rescued late on Saturday by the Philippines military, as it moved closer to rooting out the remaining gunmen from one of their last strongholds, the Bato Ali Mosque. Continue reading

They were arrested separately on Tuesday. France's LCI television said they may have provided logistical help to chief suspect Sid Ahmed Ghlam. Read more

"He was imitating ... the priest attack because of the internet," General Tito Karnavian Jakata's national police chief told foreign journalists.

However Armadi's bomb-making skills, acquired over the internet, were amateurish and his suicide bomb belt failed to explode.

A woman sitting next to the would-be suicide bomber at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Medan told the Jakarta Post that she noticed the man was fidgeting throughout Mass and unable to follow the liturgy.

When Father Albertus Pandiangan began his homily the man connected two cables, presumably to detonate the suicide bomb, causing a small explosion.

According to reports in The Guardian, local chief detective Nur Fallah said the explosion was "like a firecracker, but the firecracker didn't explode, it only fumed."

Realising the suicide bomb had failed, the attacker ran toward a priest armed with an axe and a knife.

Parishioners were able to restrain him, and the priest suffered only a minor injury to the left hand, according to authorities.

Karnavian said police had found no indication Armadi had any contacts to Islamist networks in Indonesia.

He said the attack was considered a case of self-radicalisation and not sectarian violence rooted in tensions between religious communities in traditionally tolerant Indonesia.

It was a case of a "lone wolf"being radicalised over the internet.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population and the vast majority practice a moderate form of Islam.

But a small minority of militant Islamists has been growing in recent years, inspired in part by Islamist militant groups like al Qaeda and IS.

Source

• channelnewsasia.com
• cruxnow.com
• theguardian.com
• Image: static.independent.co.uk

The assault on the main mosque of Okene showed the true nature of the terrorist attacks by the Islamist insurgency known as Boko Haram, according to Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja.

"Boko Haram is a threat to everyone, not just for Christians," said Archbishop Onaiyekan. "It is not the first time that a mosque is attacked, but previous attacks against mosques have not had the same prominence of attacks against Christian churches, perhaps because when Islamic groups attack a mosque it is not news.

"We must bear in mind that we are dealing with a group of criminals that all Nigerians, Christians and Muslims, must face together.

"Okene is in particular a Muslim community, where a strong Christian minority lives, and is one of the examples where Christians and Muslims live together. So it is not possible to divide the community between Christians and Muslims."

The terrorist attack on the Deeper Life Evangelican Church on the outskirts of Okene was carried out by three men.

Two sprayed gunfire from Kalashnikov assault rifles into those taking part in a Bible study programme, while the third man switched off the generator so there were no lights for those trying to escape.

Though no group claimed responsibility, Boko Haram has attacked both churches and mosques in the past and has been blamed for nearly 700 killings this year alone.

The group's name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's mostly Muslim north. Its demands have included the strict implementation of Islamic Shariah law across the country.

In the terrorist attack on the mosque, gunmen killed four people, including two military guards, during a Muslim programme.

Sources:

Associated Press

Fides

Nigerian Tribune

Image: The Blaze