Gunman kills 20 praying in Sudan mosque

Contra Costa Times

9 December 2000

KHARTOUM, Sudan A gunman opened fire in a mosque during prayers Friday night, killing 20 people, and then was shot to death by police, state television reported.

The attacker, identified as a member of an Islamic militant group called Takfir wal Hijra, walked into the mosque in the village of Garaffa, outside Omdurman, the twin city of the capital, Khartoum, and began firing an automatic rifle, the television report said.

20 slain ay mosque in sudanese sectarian violence

The Record, Hackensack, N.J.

10 December 2000

A gunman who killed 20 worshipers in a mosque had a long-standing grudge against their Islamic sect and had threatened its members, a police chief said Saturday.

Police shot dead the gunman, Abbas al-Baqer Abbas, after he walked up to the al-Sunna al-Mohammediyya Mosque in the village of Garaffa on Friday evening and fired an automatic rifle through its window.

Gunman who killed 20 at mosque acted alone

Waterton Daily Times

10 December 2000

A gunman who killed 20 worshippers during night prayers at a Sudan mosque before being shot dead by police appeared to have staged the attack alone, investigators said Saturday.

The attacker, identified as a member of the Islamic militant group Takfir wal Hijra, walked onto the mosque grounds in the village of Garaffa on Friday and began firing an automatic rifle through a window at the worshippers, Khartoum police Gen. Osman Gaafar told reporters.

Sudan arrest 65 islamists after mosque massacre

15 December 2000, AFP

KHARTOUM, Dec 15 - Sudan has arrested more than 65 leading members of the outlawed Muslim fundamentalist group believed to be behind the massacre of more than 20 people in a mosque near here last week, a newspaper reported Friday.

Akhbar al-Yom newspaper said security officials were interrogating the detainees of the Takfir wal-Hijra group, one of whose members gunned down Muslims of the rival Ansar al-Sunna sect during evening prayers.

Police officials said the gunman, Abbas al-Baqir Abbas, acted alone, but several witnesses said at least three armed men carried out the attack in the village of Jarafa on the outskirts of Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum.

Abbas was shot dead by police after spraying bullets on the packed congregation.

The Takfir wal-Hijra (Atonement and Self-Denial) has carried out attacks on mosques of Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of the Traditions of the Prophet Mohammed) two other times since 1996.

The outlawed Takfir wal-Hijra believes the Islamic law that governs Sudan should be implemented by force, while Ansar al-Sunna does not.

President Omar el-Beshir's adviser for legal and political affairs, Abdel Basset Subderat, told reporters recently that the interior minister and other key cabinet ministers had broadened the guidelines for security forces to curb violence.

He did not specify what the measures were and said they were not directed specifically at Takfir wal-Hijra.

Sudan says religious rivalry behind massacre

KHARTOUM, - A gunman who murdered 20 worshippers at Friday prayers near the Sudanese capital Khartoum was a zealot from a Muslim sect who tried to teach religious rivals a lesson, police said Saturday.

An interior ministry spokesman said the assailant, Abbas Baqir Abbas, appeared to have been acting alone, despite witness reports of several gunmen.

Baqir, a member of the al-Takfir wa al-Hijra (Renunciation and Exile) sect, was shot dead by police after the massacre at the small mosque in the village of Girafa, which belongs to supporters of another Muslim faction, Ansar al-Sunna.

"We don't believe there was any political motive behind the aggression, but we believe the wrong interpretation of the religious code was behind the incident," General Osman Jaffar, head of the capital's police force, told a news conference.

Police said Baqir, a former disciple of the Ansar al-Sunna, had previously argued about religious beliefs with members of the small mosque and had threatened to teach members of his former sect a lesson.

Interior Ministry spokesman Othman Yaqoub Ali said Baqir had killed 20 worshippers and injured 33 in his attack. Police said he was armed with an assault rifle.

"According to our investigations and assessment, up to now we can confirm the attacker was only one person," he said.

Reports of several gunmen

Witnesses quoted by the official Egyptian news agency MENA had said earlier that at least three gunmen opened fire at the mosque. MENA said in a dispatch from Khartoum early Saturday that police shot one of the gunmen dead but the others had escaped.

"An eyewitness said that at 8.15 p.m. (2315 GMT) Khartoum time tonight (Friday), during the second bow of evening prayers (in the fasting month) of Ramadan in the mosque, gunfire came from three directions," MENA said.

The agency also quoted one of the policemen at the scene as saying there were more than three gunmen, all wearing traditional white robes. He said that except for the man who was shot by police, all other assailants escaped.

Sudanese television, monitored by the BBC, showed film of dead bodies in pools of blood and wounded people in bloodied clothes.

MENA said in a previous dispatch that an angry crowd had gathered outside a hospital in Khartoum's sister city Omdurman where the casualties had been taken, demanding revenge for the attack on the mosque.

MENA said Ansar al-Sunna mosques had come under attack twice before in Sudan, including a 1996 incident in which 12 people were killed in a mosque in Omdurman.

Sudan is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections phased over nine days starting Monday.

Most opposition parties are boycotting the polls, in which President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose 1989 military coup brought an Islamist government to power, is seeking election.

The interior ministry spokesman said Baqir had been among a group of about 20 al-Takfir wa al-Hijra members who were arrested briefly about four years ago, and later set free. He then became a retail merchant in central Sudan, but had been visiting a relative in Khartoum.

Gun kills 20 in Sudan mosque

Sudanese officials say a lone gunman has killed at least 20 people in an attack on a mosque in Omdurman, near the capital Khartoum, during evening prayers.

State television said the gunman was shot dead by police after the attack, which came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It showed pictures of bodies lying in rows outside the mosque in Jaraffa, a village on the outskirts of Omdurman.

More than 40 people were wounded when the gunman opened fire at random with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, the television said, quoting a police statement.

The gunman belonged to the militant Al-Takfir wa al-Hijran (Renunciation and Exile) faction, the statement said. He attacked a mosque belonging to another Muslim sect - Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of Sunna).

Terrified worshippers

"There was blood all over the place. People were terrified," said one worshipper, quoted by the French news agency AFP.

Some witnesses said there were at least two assailants.

The gunman killed by police was named as Abbas Baqir Abbas, from Al-Dasis - a village in northern Sudan's Al-Jazirah region.

According to the police, he was killed while resisting arrest.

An angry crowd demanding revenge gathered outside the hospital where the casualties were taken.

An attack on the same mosque in 1996 killed 12 people.

Rival sects

The BBC's Cairo correspondent, Caroline Hawley, says the attack will be an embarrassment to the government, which had claimed to have arrested all the members of Al-Takfir wa al-Hijran blamed for the previous attack.

The sect believes Islamic law (Sharia) imposed in Sudan should be implemented by force, while Ansar al-Sunna, which has been targeted by Islamic militants before, does not.

Ansar al-Sunna has no political affiliations, but has links with the orthodox Sunni Muslim Wahhabi sect - the dominant religious force in Saudi Arabia.

The police statement promised protection for all Sudanese citizens and described the dead as martyrs.

Sudanese police: mosque gunman had grudge against worshippers' sect

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- A gunman who killed 20 worshippers in a mosque had a long-standing grudge against their Islamic sect and had threatened its members, a police chief said Saturday.

Police shot dead the gunman, Abbas al-Baqer Abbas, after he walked up to the al-Sunna al-Mohammediyya Mosque in the village of Garaffa on Friday evening and fired an automatic rifle through its window.

He killed 20 people and wounded 33 others, including a policeman, police spokesman Gen. Osman Yakoub Ali said.

Abbas belonged to a militant Islamic group, Takfir wal Hijra, Khartoum police Gen. Osman Gaafar said. He had formerly belonged to al-Sunna al-Mohammediyya, but had left this sect owing to religious differences, Gaafar said.

After he joined Takfir wal Hijra, Abbas repeatedly made violent threats against members of his former group. In 1998, police detained him for four months because of these threats. He was released after saying that he repented, Gaafar said.

On Saturday, President Omar el-Bashir visited the mosque in Garaffa, a village north of Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum. The mosque's concrete floor had been left unwashed for his inspection. It was stained by numerous patches of blood. The cream walls had bullet holes.

El-Bashir paid his condolences to relatives of the victims and said legislation would be passed to control fanatical religious groups.

"Today we vow to rectify laws in order to protect society from destructive and harmful ideas," the president said in a short speech outside the mosque.

On Friday night, a crowd had gathered outside Omdurman University Hospital, where the wounded were admitted, demanding revenge against Takfir wal Hijra, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported.

Police spokesman Ali said Abbas appeared to act alone. "Up to now our investigations and assessment suggest that the attacker was one person," he said.

Ali said Abbas, who came from the central region of el-Gezira, was a former member of the Popular Defense Forces, a government unit that fights southern rebels.

Takfir wal Hijra, whose name literally means "Repentance and Flight," advocates isolation from the sinful world. The name was used in Egypt in the early 1970s by a violent offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. The name was subsequently adopted by groups in other Arab countries.

In Sudan, Takfir wal Hijra has carried out several attacks on rival Muslim sects. In 1994, gunmen from the group killed 16 in an attack on a mosque. Three years later, its members killed two worshippers in another mosque attack.

In 1996 its members fought a gun battle with police that killed eight people.

Victims buried

Funerals have been taking place for 20 people massacred as they attended evening prayers at a village mosque in Sudan.

A gunman opened fire at worshippers on Friday with a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the mosque on the outskirts of Omdurman, near the capital Khartoum.

Sudanese officials say a gunman from an extremist Islamic group was responsible, and was shot dead by police after the attack. They say he appeared to be acting alone.

But witnesses, including a police officer at the scene, said at least three attackers were involved.

The massacre, which came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, happened in the village of Jaraffa.

State television showed graphic pictures of bodies lying in rows outside the mosque.

A police spokesman said 33 people were wounded.

The gunman belonged to the militant Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra (Renunciation and Exile) faction, state television said, quoting a police statement. He attacked a mosque belonging to another Muslim sect - Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of Sunna) - with which it has a history of rivalry.

The Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, visited the mosque on Saturday and offered condolences to the victims' relatives, state television said.

He stressed that the government was "capable of protecting the citizens and their property". He also said laws to protect society from "destructive ideas" would be amended soon.

Gunman named

The gunman killed by police was named as Abbas Baqir Abbas, from Al-Dasis - a village in northern Sudan's Al-Jazirah region.

"There was blood all over the place. People were terrified," said one worshipper, quoted by the French news agency AFP.

An angry crowd demanding revenge gathered outside the hospital where the casualties were taken.

An attack on the same mosque in 1996 killed 12 people.

The BBC's Cairo correspondent, Caroline Hawley, says the attack will be an embarrassment to the government, which had claimed to have arrested all the members of Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra blamed for the previous attack.

Rival sects

The sect believes Islamic law (Sharia) imposed in Sudan should be implemented by force, while Ansar al-Sunna, which has been targeted by Islamic militants before, does not.

Ansar al-Sunna has no political affiliations, but has links with the orthodox Sunni Muslim Wahhabi sect - the dominant religious force in Saudi Arabia.

Police said the gunman was detained briefly four months ago along with 20 other people believed to be members of Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra, but was released after he repented and said he had abandoned the group's ideas.

Profile of Islamic extremist blamed for mosque massacre

KHARTOUM, Dec 10 -- The man blamed for killing 22 people at a mosque here was described Sunday as a former holy warrior in Sudan's civil war whose own mother deserted the family home because of his religious fanaticism.

The portrait of the 33-year-old Abbas al-Baqir Abbas, a member of an extremist Islamic group who was shot and killed by police amid the rampage, emerged from interviews with villagers, relatives and police.

Abbas' own mother left home in the village of Dassees in central Sudan because he caused so much trouble with his siblings, his uncle Mohammed Ahmed Osman told Sunday's edition of the official Al-Anbaa newspaper.

"He always beat his sister and accused her of infidelity because he believes her clothes were un-Islamic, although she wore Sudanese costume," the uncle said.

He added that Abbas was also deported from Libya before completing his studies there in the faculty of economics at Tripoli University, where he led Islamist groups which the authorities saw as threatening security.

Not only did he quarrel at home and as a student, but he also argued at the pacifist Ansar al-Sunna sect's mosque in Jarafa village outide Khartoum long before he attacked it Friday with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Although Abbas lived in central Sudan's Gezira province, he used to regularly visit his brother Ismail who lives in Jarafa, villagers said.

"Abbas used to visit the mosque but would not pray with the worshippers," said one villager who lived near the Ansar al-Sunna mosque.

"Instead, he used to engage in heated discussions with them on controversial Islamic issues," the villager told AFP.

The Ansar al-Sunna sect issued a press statement on Sunday complaining that Abbas had previously threatened prayer leaders and other worshippers of the sect and that lawsuits had been filed against him.

The group appealed to the authorities to finally ban the activities of the Takfir wal-Hijra, which it blamed for two previous attacks on its members.

President Omar el-Beshir meanwhile has promised increased but unspecified security measures to curb violence.

Takfir wal-Hijra (Atonement and Self-Denial) insists on using force to implement the Islamic law that governs Sudan whereas the pacifist Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of the Rules of Mohammed) oppose such harsh measures.

The political opposition in Sudan meanwhile blamed the Islamist government in Khartoum for encouraging violent acts by turning Sudan into a haven for extremists and by training young men in an Islamist militia.

Abbas himself served in the militia known as the popular defense forces before undergoing military training and fighting anti-government rebels waging a 17-year civil war in southern Sudan, police said.

The police said Abbas was the lone gunman, although witnesses reported that others also opened fire on the mosque. They also added that he shot at others while rampaging through the village later, but spared women.

Twenty-three killed in Sudan mosque massacre: new toll

KHARTOUM, Dec 10 - A total of 23 people were killed by an Islamic militant gunman who went on a rampage at a mosque near the Sudanese capital on Friday, a report said Sunday after two more died of their wounds.

Two people died in the hospital on Saturday after they were shot and wounded by the extremist at the mosque in Jarafa village outside the capital Khartoum, the independent newspaper Akhbar Al-Yom said.

Journalists with the state-run SUNA news agency told AFP the death toll remained at 23 on Sunday.

The two new victims were reported to be men over 50 years old and were to be buried within a day of their deaths following Islamic custom.

A mass funeral for most of those who died Friday night was staged Saturday with blanketed corpses carried on bedsteads to the graveyard in Jarafa.

Police said Friday that all the people whom Abbas al-Baqir Abbas, 33, shot and killed were worshippers. Abbas, an extremist from the Takfir wal-Hijra group, was himself killed in a shootouts with police outside the mosque.

However, witnesses and newspapers said Sunday that the gunman not only targeted worshippers but also people outside when he went on a rampage through the village, killing at least two boys in indiscriminate fire.

Witnesses in the village said he avoided targetting the women's section of the mosque and at one point reassured a woman who tried to flee that he would not shoot women.

The massacre took place during Friday evening prayers at the mosque of the pacifist Ansar al-Sunna sect in the village of Jarafa on the outskirts of Omdurman, part of the metropolitan area of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

The outlawed Takfir wal-Hijra (Atonement and Self-Denial) believes the Islamic law that governs Sudan should be implemented by force, while Ansar al-Sunna, (Supporters of the Rules of the Prophet Mohammed) does not.

The Takfir wal-Hijra has carried out attacks on Ansar's mosques two other times since 1996.

Newspaper and other accounts said Abbas had argued at the Jarafa mosque a number of times in the past while visiting his brother Ismail in the village.

The sect itself accused him of having threatened worshippers and prayer leaders and now called on the government to ban the activities of the group.

President Omar el-Beshir's adviser for legal and political affairs, Abdel Basset Subderat, told reporters that the interior minister and other key cabinet ministers had given wider guidelines for security forces to curb violence.

He did not specify what the measures were.

"This amendment is not for specific organizations," he told journalists who asked whether it targetted the Taqfir. "It is left to the security forces to enforce it."

Beshir had promised increased security measures on Saturday.

Abbas' uncle Mohammed Ahmed Osman told Sunday's edition of the official Al-Anbaa newspaper that Abbas' mother deserted the family home because of his religious fanaticism.

He added that Abbas was also deported from Libya before completing his studies there in the faculty of economics at Tripoli University, where he led Islamist groups the authorities saw as threatening security.

Police added that Abbas served in the militia known as the popular defense forces before undergoing military training and fighting anti-government rebels waging a 17-year civil war in southern Sudan.

The mosque massacre