Two female members of the congregation then began a physical attack, the police and witnesses said.

The attack lasted, uh, say three to four minutes.

Then we get an attack on atheists for, er, saying the Bible isn't true.

"An awful, horrendous and cruel attack on a civilian home," he said.

On two of the occasions, he videotaped the attacks, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.

Officials have claimed that the attack was well organised but say order has now been restored to the area.

No more attacks on civilians either, and his field commanders had been ordered not to put up roadblocks against aid workers, he said.

What these dual attacks might say about the current state of Al Qaeda is an open question here.

Many of the girls who survived the attack said they had been raped, the press agency and the television broadcast said.

Those who remember the 2001 attacks said the devastation they faced this time was much different.