Russian Priest and Muslim Critic, Daniil Sysoyev, Assassinated in Church
The Russian Orthodox priest Daniil Sysoyev, 35, was shot by a masked gunman. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: A Russian Orthodox priest known for his outspoken criticism of Islam and attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity has been assassinated in his Moscow church.

A masked gunman shot Father Daniil Sysoyev in the head and chest after asking for him by name, police said. The choirmaster, Vladimir Strelbinsky, was seriously wounded in the attack at St Thomas Church in southern Moscow.

Father Daniil, 35, died of his wounds in hospital late last night. A Russian newspaper reported that he had recently told its journalists of 14 death threats by telephone and e-mail, which he had received as a result of his work among Muslim migrants from former Soviet republics.

“They’ve threatened to cut my head off 14 times,” the priest told Komsomolskaya Pravda, adding that the Federal Security Service had contacted him last year after uncovering a plot to murder him. >>> Tony Halpin in Moscow | Friday, November 10, 2009

Dr Isaac Kfir: Great Triumph for Radicals
YNET NEWS – OPINION: Expert says Bhutto assassination to gravely undermine Pakistan democracy hopes

“Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is an earthquake in Pakistan,” says Dr. Isaac Kfir, an international relations lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and a Pakistan expert. Kfir believes that the terror attack that killed the opposition leader constitutes a grave blow to democratic aspirations in the Islamic state. “Her death will cause a huge shock in the country and lead to the opposition party’s collapse. This is an immense achievement for radical Islam,” he says.

Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister, was murdered Thursday in a shooting attack carried out by a suicide bomber. Dr. Kfir says that the opposition leader’s death will gravely undermine her party’s future. “Her death will neutralize the opposition party because there is no suitable candidate that could take her place,” he says. “This could lead to a party split and a leadership struggle.”

In addition, Kfir says that the murder significantly boosts the power of Islamists in Pakistan under the leadership of al-Qaeda activists. “The Bhutto assassination proves that radical Islam has shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan and is moving from rural areas into the large cities. The Taliban may grow stronger and so would al-Qaeda – one of its leaders, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called for Bhutto’s murder and viewed her as a US and Western puppet,” Kfir notes. Great triumph for radicals >>> By Roee Mandel

YNET NEWS OPINION:
World peace at stake: Bhutto assassination could have far-reaching implications for global security By Ronen Bergman

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Bhutto’s Death May Bring Musharraf Down
THE TELEGRAPH: As in Yeats's Easter 1916, death changes our view of certain people utterly. It's a tricky thing to broach the martyrdom and apotheosis of someone you didn't like and have publicly criticised.

The news reports after Benazir Bhutto's death repeatedly featured footage of her uttering the fateful words, "Don't worry, God willing, I will be safe. I will be safe."

I'd seen that same interview earlier and at the time I commented scornfully on the platitudes carefully chosen to appeal to her Western audience, the peculiar nasal delivery, the disingenuousness.

What I saw after her murder was only vulnerability, the uncertain smile that followed the words, and her bravery. And it made me profoundly sad.

Who can doubt that Benazir was physically brave? With an executed father and two murdered brothers, no one could have been more aware of the risks of entering Pakistani politics. But she refused to be intimidated by threats from local opponents and extremists who viewed her as an American stooge.

She continued campaigning even after the attempt on her life the day she returned to Pakistan on October 18, which left up to 140 people dead. In the end she was killed just two miles from the spot where her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged 28 years earlier. As prime minister, Benazir Bhutto did little >>> Says Jemima Khan

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Jihadists and This Disaster for Us All
DAILY MAIL: Last August, two months before her return to Pakistan from exile, Benazir Bhutto explained the essence of Pakistani politics.

"There are two fault lines," she said. "One is dictatorship versus democracy. The other is moderation versus extremism."

These fault lines converged lethally on her on Thursday when she was murdered by Islamic extremists while campaigning to restore democracy to her country.

Her death will plunge her already troubled country into a prolonged period of murderous chaos from which only Islamist fanatics can gain.

It is unlikely that Al Qaeda and their Islamist supporters would ever assume total control of a nuclear-armed Pakistan - the ruling generals will not willingly give up their weapons. But in the maelstrom that follows Bhutto's assassination the Islamists will be free to flourish in vast tracts of the country.

Huge areas will become a giant training camp for the sort of Anglo-Pakistani jihadists who struck in London in July 2005.

Entire regions in the north west are already violent badlands occupied by extremists, which the government can only enter with thousands of soldiers - and these badlands are now likely to expand massively. Jihadists and this disaster for us all >>> By Michael Burleigh

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Al-Qaeda Claims responsibility for Bhutto’s Assassination
"This is our first major victory against those [eg, Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf] who have been siding with infidels [the West] in a fight against Al Qaeda and declared a war against mujahideen," - Mustafa told Asia Times Online by telephone.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
Pakistan Mourns Bhutto, as Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility: Slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto laid to rest amid supporters' protests and security officials search for her killer By Simon Montlake

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Violence Across Pakistan in Wake of Bhutto’s Assassination

THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistani security forces were given orders to shoot on sight today to curb unrest as millions across the country mourned Benazir Bhutto.

The former prime minister and leading opposition figure was laid to rest in her family's mausoleum a day after her assassination by Islamic extremists.

Her simple coffin, draped in the red, green and black flag of her Pakistan People's Party, was greeted by huge crowds at her ancestral grave in the village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in the southern province of Sind.

Accompanied by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and three children, her body was carried in a white ambulance as it made its way towards the white Mogulesque mausoleum surrounded by hundreds of thousands of mourners. Violence as millions mourn Benazir Bhutto >>> By Isambard Wilkinson, Pakistan Correspondent

The West’s greatest test since September 11 By David Blair

Pakistan faces horror of civil war after Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in suicide attack By Isambard Wilkinson, Pakistan Correspondent, Richard Edwards and David Blair

Bhutto's death is victory for Islamic hardliners By Con Coughlin

Why the fanatics wanted Benazir Bhutto dead By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent

NZZ:
Mächtiger Trauerzug begleitet Bhuttos Sarg zum Grab: In Familienmausoleum beigesetzt

WELTONLINE:
Atomwaffen und Islamisten sind sich nah wie nie

LE MONDE:
Benazir Bhutto a été inhumée devant des centaines de milliers de Pakistanais

Edito du "MONDE":
Le Pakistan en danger

Un attentat que "la Sultane" redoutait : "J'en rendrai Musharraf responsable", confiait-elle

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

BBC: Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a presumed suicide attack.

News of her death was confirmed by a military spokesman and members of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Ms Bhutto had just addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi when gunfire and an explosion occurred.

At least 15 other people are reported killed in the attack and several more were injured. Ms Bhutto had twice been the country's prime minister.

She had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January. Benazir Bhutto killed in attack >>>

WATCH BBC VIDEOS:
Bhutto killed in Pakistan blast

Scenes of chaos and panic at the scene of the assassination

THE TELEGRAPH:
Obituary: Benazir Bhutto

SPIEGELONLINE:
Benazir Bhutto ermordert – Pakistan unter Schock Von Hasnain Kazim

Geliebt, bewundert – verhasst Von Hasnain Kazim und Björn Hengst

NZZ:
Tod von Bhutto stellt Wahl in Pakistan in Frage

LE FIGARO:
Violences au Pakistan après l'assassinat de Benazir Bhutto

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)