News

Qaraqosh falls, thousands flee

  August 8, 2014 Iraq Ankawa, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Tel Kaif

Map of IS occupation in Iraq as of August 7 2014. Courtesy of Open Doors International   Armed jihadists of the so-called “Islamic State” took over Iraq’s largest Christian town, Qaraqosh, and nearby Christian settlements early Thursday, forcing thousands of Christians to flee to Kurdish-controlled areas. Statements of anguish and . . . Read More

Cameroon pastor among 25 killed as Deputy Prime Minister’s wife kidnapped

  August 4, 2014 Cameroon Adamawa, Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Far North, Kidnapping, Maroua, Nigeria, Ramadan, Yaoundé

At least 25 people were killed in Cameroon, among them a church leader, as militants carried out two attacks in the far north of Cameroon at the end of July. In one attack in the town of Kolofata, the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister and her maid were kidnapped, . . . Read More

CAR archbishop hopeful, cautious about cease-fire

  August 1, 2014 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Genocide, Seleka, UN

Dieudonné Nzapalainga, archbishop of BanguiCourtesy of Open Doors International   Armed groups in the Central African Republic have reached a cease-fire deal aimed at putting an end to the violence that has engulfed the country since March 2013. The 10-part agreement was signed July 23 in Brazzaville, the capital of . . . Read More

Two Finnish Christian aid workers killed in Afghanistan

  July 25, 2014 Afghanistan Afghanistan, Badakhshan, Elections, Hamid Karzai, Herat, Kabul, Ramadan, Takhar, Taliban

Two Finnish women working for a Christian aid charity have been killed by gunmen in Herat, Afghanistan; both had worked in Afghanistan for 16 years, having arrived there together in March 1997. Two men, travelling by motorcycle, shot two women, who worked for the International Assistance Mission, IAM – while . . . Read More

Kidnapped girls’ parents die as Chibok’s trauma rises

  July 24, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Goodluck Jonathan, Trauma

Chibok girls who managed to escape arriving at Nigeria’s State House to meet with Nigerian President Jonathan. Abuja, Nigeria; July 22, 2014Reuben Abati, Presidential Spokesman, Nigeria   For the missing Nigerian girls kidnapped over 100 days ago, another trauma has emerged. Eleven of the group of grieving parents have died, . . . Read More

IS invades monastery, steals ‘everything’ from Iraqi Christians

  July 22, 2014 Iraq Al-Qaeda, Alqosh, Baghdad, Batnaya, Chaldeans, Dohuk, Erbil, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jizya, Kidnapping, Kurds, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Sunni, Tel Kaif

After every known Christian is reported to have left Mosul, Islamic State fighters, IS, have now taken over a monastery near the largely Christian town of Qaraqosh, 32 miles southeast of Mosul. According to Agence France Presse IS expelled its three resident monks, a cleric and a few families living there, ordering . . . Read More

Mariam’s permission to leave Sudan still unclear

  July 21, 2014 Sudan Apostasy, Khartoum, Mariam Ibrahim, Sudan

Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the current status of Sudan’s ‘death-row mother’ Mariam Ibrahim’s lack of freedom to leave Khartoum for a new life with her husband and children at his American home. On July 17, Reuters reported that the lawsuit brought by Ibrahim’s Sudanese Muslim father was dropped. The . . . Read More

Pakistan court grants bail to suspect in murder of government minister

  July 19, 2014 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Paul Bhatti, Rawalpindi, Shahbaz Bhatti, Taliban

A man charged with killing Pakistan’s former Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, in March 2011 has been released on bail of about $10,000 by a Pakistani court. Umar Abdullah was released July 11 after being arrested in September 2013. He has been accused of having ties with Al-Qaeda and . . . Read More

ISIS orders last Christians out of Mosul

  July 18, 2014 Iraq Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Middle East, Mosul

The Islamist militants controlling the Iraqi city of Mosul have ordered all remaining Christians to leave town immediately or face execution, according to news sources. Middle East Concern, a London-based association of Christian-rights agencies with operations in the Middle East, reported Friday that the militants controlling Mosul had summoned Christian . . . Read More

Indian villages outlaw Christian practices

  July 17, 2014 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Converts, Hindutva, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Several villages in central India have outlawed the open practice of Christianity – a move of questionable legality yet one that worries church leaders who say it already has encouraged anti-Christian violence. “The situation is becoming worse. The anti-Christian propaganda is becoming stronger,” Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, . . . Read More