KEY POINTS
- Terrorists in multiple global attacks spared Muslims after confirming their religion.
- Incidents from India, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Mali show a clear pattern of selective killings.
- Groups like ISIS, Al-Shabab, and Lashkar-e-Taiba used religion as a tool for murder.
In the past 17 years, several terrorist attacks around the world have followed a disturbing pattern. Armed groups, claiming to act in the name of Islam, have carried out brutal attacks where victims were selected based on their religion. In each of these shocking incidents, non-Muslims were specifically targeted and killed, while Muslims were either spared or released. These crimes were not just acts of violence, they were deliberate, planned actions aimed at spreading fear among people of other religions.
Pahalgam Terror Attack: Shot After Being Asked Their Religion
On April 22, 2025, the peaceful valley of Baisaran near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed horror. Five heavily armed militants opened fire on a group of tourists. According to survivors, the terrorists asked the tourists their names and religions before opening fire. 26 innocent people were killed, and more than 20 were injured. Most of the victims were Hindus and Sikhs. This act of hatred and religious discrimination shocked the entire country. It was clear that the attackers spared Muslims and murdered others purely based on their faith.
A similar cruel method was used in Kenya. On April 2, 2015, the terrorist group Al-Shabab, linked to Al-Qaeda, stormed Garissa University College. They separated students by religion. While Muslim students were allowed to leave, the Christian students were brutally killed. 148 young students lost their lives in one of Kenya’s deadliest terror attacks. This act clearly showed how these radical groups spread terror by dividing people along religious lines.
On July 1, 2016, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, five attackers from the Islamic State (IS) stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery. They took hostages and then began questioning them. Those who could recite verses from the Quran were released. Others, especially foreigners and non-Muslims, were tortured and killed. The attackers used religion as a deadly tool to decide who would live and who would die. This chilling event once again exposed how extremists misuse faith for murder.
On November 20, 2015, Islamist gunmen belonging to Al-Mourabitoun, a group linked to Al-Qaeda, attacked the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali. They took 170 people hostage and demanded that the captives recite Quranic verses. Muslims were allowed to go, but others weren’t so lucky. 27 people were killed. This method of killing only those of other religions paints a very dark picture of these terror networks.
Mumbai 26/11 Attack: Turkish Muslims Released, Others Killed
India faced one of its worst terror attacks in November 2008, when Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terror group, attacked multiple locations in Mumbai. During the siege at the Taj Hotel, terrorists held hostages and asked them their religion. A Turkish Muslim couple, Meltem Muezzinoglu and her husband, were told they would not be harmed because they were Muslims. The three foreign women held with her were taken away and later found to have been killed. This again showed how these terrorists operated with a hateful religious mindset.
In November 2023, during the Israel-Gaza conflict, several Thai hostages were released by Hamas, a known terror group operating from Gaza. Reports revealed that the release happened after Muslim Thai groups directly contacted Hamas and helped negotiate only for the release of Muslim hostages. While some praised the release, it raised serious questions: why were only Muslims prioritized? Why was faith the deciding factor, even during rescue efforts?
All these incidents have something in common: innocent people lost their lives just because they followed a different religion. Terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, ISIS, Al-Shabab, Hamas, and Al-Mourabitoun have repeatedly shown that their actions are driven by religious hatred and intolerance. They misuse the name of Islam, but their actions are against humanity and true faith.
It is important to understand that terrorism has no religion. These attacks were committed by extremist groups, not by ordinary Muslims who live peacefully across the world. In fact, many Muslims have died in terror attacks, and many have fought against these radicals.
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