CNN Omits 7 Countries in Ramadan Terror Attack Map
CNN Omits 7 Countries in Ramadan Terror Attack Map
Although the network apologized for the omission of Israel from the map, it failed to correct the omissions of 7 other African & Asian countries.
Thu, July 7, 2016
A CNN map detailing terror attacks around the world perpetrated during Ramadan has omitted Israel, Nigeria, Niger, Pakistan Somalia, Malaysia, Cameroon and Kenya.
During Ramadan there were also terrorist attacks as yet unattributed to specific groups in Madagascar, Bahrain, Mali and Indonesia, where evidence indicates possible Islamist motives.
Ramadan began on Monday June 6 and culminated on Wednesday July 6.
On Wednesday, June 8, four people were murdered when gunmenlinked to the Islamic State opened fire at a restaurant in Tel Aviv. Hamas praised the attack saying, "This is the first surprise in store for the Zionist enemy during Ramadan."
CNN apologized for the omission of Israel and released an updated map that included the Jewish state. However, they did not update the map to include attacks on several African and Asian countries.
This is despite tweeting: "Updated map: This graphic shows the extent of terror attacks throughout Ramadan in 2016" along with the corrected map on July 6.
On Friday, June 14, at least four people were killed in Nigeria when Boko Haram surrounded a village near the town of Chibok, the place where 276 schoolgirls were abducted in 2014. Boko Haram set houses in the village on fire and shot people as they fled.
On Thursday, June 16, seven soldiers were killed by Boko Haramgunmen in Niger during an attack on a town while a delegation of ministers was visiting.
On Monday, June 20, a doctor from the minority Ahmadi sect was gunned down in the Pakistani city of Karachi. He is believed to have been targeted for murder because of his affiliation with the heterodox Ahmadi sect, which is believed to be heretical by mainstream Sunni Muslims and which has been targeted many times in the past.
On Saturday, June 25, Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, killing 14 and wounding several others. The attack began with a suicide bombing and was followed up with several gunmen attacking the hotel.
On Tuesday, June 28, a grenade attack was launched against a nightclub in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, wounding eight people. On July 4, police announced that the attack had been carried out by the Islamic State.
On Thursday, Wednesday June 29, 11 people were killed when a suicide bomber from Boko Haram blew himself up in at a mosque in Cameroon, according to local military and political officials.
On Friday, July 1, six people were murdered in a terrorist attack in Kenya when Al-Shabaab militants opened fire on two buses heading towards the northern town of Mandera. Somalian Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Additionally during Ramadan, two African countries and three Asian countries saw terrorist attacks where it was unclear who carried out the attack.
On Sunday, June 26, in Madagascar, a grenade was thrown into a stadium in the capital city of Antananarivo during celebrations for the country's 56th Independence Day. Although no group claimed responsibility and the motive behind the attack is unknown, the president labeled the attack "an act of terrorism."
On Thursday, June 30, three soldiers were killed in Mali not far from Timbuktu, the ancient city which was overrun by Al-Qaeda in 2012 and later recovered with French assistance.
Also on Thursday, June 30, a woman was killed and three children injured in a roadside bomb in Bahrain. No group claimed responsibility.
On the evening of Monday, July 4, the day before the map was released, one person was killed and three injured in a terrorist attackwhen a man fired a grenade from a grenade launcher near a mosque and police station in the Pattani province of Thailand. Police suspect Islamist separatists were behind the attack.
In the morning of Tuesday, July 5, the day the map was released, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in Solo, Central Java in Indonesia. Fortunately, no-one except the suicide bomber was killed.
On grounds of journalistic caution it might be possible to justify the omission of Madagascar, since it is unclear who was behind the attack. Mali is less justifiable since the evidence points to Al-Qaeda being behind the attack, even though it is not conclusive. Indonesia has seen attacks by Islamist militants in the past and it seems very unlikely that another sect would have carried out a suicide bombing so close to Eid.
In the interests of full disclosure, Clarion Project retweeted CNN's map after the correction was made to include Israel. We did not further fact check the map because, like many people, we trusted CNN to have fact-checked the map more thoroughly. After a tip from a reader pointed out the omissions of Kenya and Somalia we investigated further and discovered the other omissions.
This is not an exhaustive list of terrorist attacks during Ramadan, countries are mentioned once for the sake of brevity despite multiple attacks taking place in many of the countries listed.
CNN Omits 7 Countries in Ramadan Terror Attack Map
