From Syria to Iraq, Kenya to Malaysia: How new era of Islamic fundamentalism is spreading fear and chaos around the world

From a beheading in Iraq to the hard-line repression of religious freedoms in Sudan, a string of extremist acts in recent weeks have raised the worrying spectre of a new era of Islamic fundamentalism spreading across the world.

Over the last month, the world's media has been awash with gruesome images of barbarism - pulled into sharp focus in recent days with the barrage of horrific videos and hate-filled messages pouring onto the internet from Sunni militants in Iraq.

But it is far from restricted to that country alone. In just the last few days

Footage has emerged showing armed militant children as young as eight watching as an Iraqi prisoner is executed by ISIS, while another shows a captured Iraqi police officer being beheaded;

At least five people have died in an attack on Kenya's coast just days after Al Qaeda-inspired terror group Al Shabaab kills 60 in twin massacres

Islamist militants Boko Haram are feared to have snatched 90 villagers in the same area of Nigeria where they seized nearly 300 Christian schoolgirls two months ago
Boko Haram, which wants to set up an Islamist caliphate in Africa's largest economy, has fought back against an army offensive and killed thousands in bomb and gun attacks, striking as far afield as the central city of Jos and the capital Abuja.

A human rights group has warned that revenge attacks between Christian and Islamic militia in the Central African Republic risk creating conditions for a genocide reminiscent of Bosnia in the 1990s.

Just last night, an explosion in a Nigerian shopping mall killed at least 21 people and injured 17 more as the nation prepared to watch its football team play Argentina in the World CupAlso yesterday, a suicide bomber killed himself and wounded several security officers at a hotel in Raouche in Beirut, close to the Saudi Arabian embassy

Another form of religious extremism has also gained widespread attention and subsequent outrage in Sudan, where a mother was handed the death sentence for marrying a Christian and was forced to give birth in shackles in prison.
Mariam Yehya Ibrahim was released after an international outcry, but yesterday was re-arrested and charged with fraud as she tried to leave the country with her American husband, Daniel Wani, and their two children

The Sudanese authorities claim she failed to use her Muslim name on her travel documents.
On Wednesday June 25,2014, an explosion in a Nigerian shopping mall killed at least 21 people and injured 17 more as the nation prepared to watch its football team play Argentina in the World Cup.

 

 

Nigerians are calling for action after Boko Haram militants are said to have kidnapped a further 91 people after snatching nearly 300 schoolgirls two months ago