Goat polo jihad

Goat grabbing for the glory of Allah

In the battle between animal and man, I usually root for the animal.  The running of the bulls in Pamplona is a chance for me to cheer for a backside goring, while rodeos have me hoping for a hoof to the groin.  As long as the animal has a better than average chance of injuring its rider then I say go right ahead.  We humans abuse animals all the time, so a little payback should be applauded.  In the case of using dead animals for sport, that just shows a lack of respect for what God gave us, and proves nothing of manhood and everything of arrogance.

The goat is headless, and the goal is to ride around, shouting, trying to snatch the carcass from your opponent and take it to the little circle at the end of the field.  Muhammad would be so proud.  While the "game" was in progress a jihadist managed to detonate his explosives, murdering 10 and wounding many, so I guess the goat got the better end of the stick.

From Reuters March 13 by Mirwais Harooni
 
Suicide bomber kills 10 spectators at Afghan goat polo game

(Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up during a traditional Afghan game of buzkashi, a game of horse polo played with a dead goat, killing at least 10 spectators in the northern province of Kunduz on Wednesday, the local governor's office said.

Among those killed were the district police chief who is the brother of Afghanistan's House Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor said. Two other family members were also killed.

At least 10 people were wounded when the attacker strapped with explosives, who was in the crowd, struck during the game being played in front of 3,000 spectators, the spokesman said.

For years after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, northernAfghanistan was largely free of insurgent violence but security has been deteriorating over the past two years.

Ten police officers, including the local counter-terrorism chief, were killed in a suicide bombing in Kunduz in late January.

Buzkashi, or "goat grabbing", is the national sport of Afghanistan, and involves two teams who try to accumulate points by propelling a headless goat carcass to the scoring area.