It’s a holy pilgrimage.
(ABNA.ir)
A group of American pilgrims performing the Hajj were attacked by Australian Muslims earlier this week in Saudi Arabia.
The Washington Times reported:
A group of Americans visiting Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj were threatened and attacked earlier this week on Oct. 16 by a radicalized group of extremists. On one of the nights where Hajj pilgrims are required to stay overnight in the city of Mina, a group of young men began asking different sets of pilgrims if they were from the United States.
When they encountered a group that identified themselves as not only Americans, but also as Shiite Muslims, they were threatened and attacked by the group of men, who were apparently armed with knives and other blades.
During the attack, the men reportedly shouted “Our [holy pilgrimage] will be complete once we have killed you, ripped out your hearts and eaten them, and [then] raped your women.”
In continuing the assault, the men also shouted “We’re going to do Karbala all over again,” referring to an important historical event to Shi’ite Muslims, wherein the grandson of the Prophet, named Imam Husain, was brutally attacked and killed, after he was forced to witness the killing of many of his family members. The survivors of the incident, mostly women and children, were immediately imprisoned in circumstances that resulted in the deaths of some of the prisoners.
ABNA.ir has more on the violent attack.
The attackers, who are Australians of Lebanese descent, then hit three other men in the group and dragged one into a tent, while choking and kicking him.
“They took him into a woman’s tent and had him in a chokehold. They were choking him out. When our guys got to him, he was blue,” she said.
The attackers threatened the pilgrims to leave the tent area, while bringing up historic sectarian references.
“We will kill you Shi’a men and rape your women,” they shouted, according to the source.
Stuff like this happens at the Vatican all the time.