Healing
the Haunted by Kenneth
McAll,
M.D. |
TERRORIST PLOT AGAINST POPE WAS FOILED BY MIRACULOUS EXPLOSION
@Spirit Daily
A published report says that a terrorist plot by Osama Bin Laden against Pope John Paul II during a visit in 1995 to the Philippines was foiled when a miraculous accident caused an explosion in the Manila apartment where a bomb was being readied just a week before the pontiff's visit. The plot involved use of a fragmentary bomb and timer inside a digital watch. When officers investigated they found the apartment laden with a crucifix, Bibles, and cassocks -- indicating that the terrorists were going to disguise themselves as priests. Italian police are now on high alert at all papal functions.
In recent years, John Paul II has been the object of at least three failed plots on his life by fundamentalist terrorist groups, according to political and press sources. The CIA says the mastermind behind the Philippines plot was terrorist Ramzy Youssef, who has worked under the direction of Bin Laden and who two years earlier organized the first attack on the World Trade Center.
One of the terrorists set in place in the Philippines was Abdulhakim Alihashim Murad -- who was arrested at Doña Josefa apartment on Quirino Ave., Manila, which is only 150 meters away from the Papal Nunciature House. Murad had training as a pilot. "Authorities also recovered a map covering the areas of Manila, indicating [a plot] to disrupt the visit of the Pope at the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference at the San Carlos Seminary along Edsa, Guadalupe, Makati City on Jan. 15, 1995," according to the Cebu Sun-Star. Recovered from Murad were also a laptop computer, a map of the Pope's itinerary, and photographs of John Paul II.
U.S. officials said the plot against the Pope was discovered in January of 1995 when Filipino firemen were summoned to the apartment in response to reports of smoke billowing from the windows. The firefighters called in police when they found smoldering chemicals in the empty apartment, according to the Charlotte Observer. Later, authorities confiscated a computer disk that described plans to blow up a dozen 747 jumbo jets over the Pacific Ocean and to assassinate John Paul II.