Mali rebels push government region

(Photo courtesy of Magharebia)

Mali (MNN) ― A pepper of gunfire continues to play back and forth between Islamic rebels in Mali’s north and the Mali army in the south.

On Wednesday, Mali’s military attacked the rebel Islamic group called Ansar Dine with heavy weapons along the north-south dividing line, according to Mali officials. Rebels boasted of capturing soldiers in the attack.

Earlier on Tuesday, Islamist fighters reportedly pushed toward Mopti--the last government-controlled city in the north--and the army held them off with “warning shots.”

Peace talks were scheduled between the Mali government and Ansar Dine group members in the neighboring country of Burkina Faso on Thursday.
The potential for rebel forces in the northern territory--an area the size of France--to push south is troubling. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said to BBC News, “Obviously we are very concerned about the situation, and the development of essentially an entire terrorist region is of grave concern to everybody in the international community.”

While most of the world is fixated on radical Islamic presence in countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, Mali has kept a low profile. Muslim extremists didn’t rise up until March 2012 in a coup that led to their north takeover. The Taureg insurgents wanted to make their own country in the north.

Paul Estabrooks with Open Doors USA says, “The first thing they did was a kind of religious ethnic cleansing. They began to do house-to-house searches. They literally warned Christians that if they didn’t get out of this new country in the north part of Mali, they would kill them--and they weren’t joking. Many Christians were killed; others were injured severely.”

The Open Doors World Watch List tracks the top 50 countries that carry out persecution of Christians and restrict religious freedom. When the 2013 World Watch List was released January 8, the results for Mali were shocking.

According to Estabrooks, “Mali was not even on the World Watch List last year, and because of all the challenges there, [Mali] has suddenly jumped to 7th place out of 50 countries. It is a significant factor.”

Members of the group Ansar Dine are applying Islamic law in their north region, even punishing moderate Muslims. There have been reports of public amputations, executions, and whippings. Several people fled to neighboring countries and are living in refugee camps.

“It’s been a fairly quiet country, so [Christians] haven’t had a strong history of persecution,” says Estabrooks. “So when it comes suddenly like it has in Mali, it’s a real challenge for believers because they haven’t really prepared for what’s going on. The fear factor is an extremely difficult thing for them to deal with.”

Estabrooks says, “It’s a highly speculative situation at the moment. I mean we just don’t know what’s going to happen. Is it possible that things could be returned to some kind of normalcy? Or if not, will the north just literally overrun the south which is what they want to do? We’re in a wait-and-see kind of situation.”

Please pray for Christians to stand strong under persecution. Pray also for their safety. Pray that they would be ambassadors for Christ and bring hope to others living in fear.

Nigeria in talks with Boko Haram

(Cover photo courtesy Compass Direct. Story photo courtesy Open Doors)

Nigeria (MNN) ― Nigeria's president has taken a controversial step in trying to end the insurgency plaguing his country.

President Goodluck Jonathon is engaged in back-channel talks with leaders of the Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group blamed for the murder of over 600 people since the beginning of 2012.

The group's main targets of elimination are Christians, and their near-weekly attacks on churches have borne out their commitment.

President and CEO of Open Doors USA Carl Moeller reacts to news of the negotiations: "Having talks with these people? It's a bit crazy, in my opinion." Specifically, precedent has already been set for the success of such talks. "The experience of the Afghan government talking with the Taliban, the experience of the Pakistani government talking with the extremists in Swat Valley shows that you don't engage conversation with terrorist groups and expect them to compromise."

Compromise does not exist in Boko Haram's lexicon. "Boko Haram has committed itself ideologically to  the elimination of Christianity, particularly in northern Nigeria, but making all of Nigeria an Islamic state." Boko Haram, whose name in Hausa means "Western Education is sin," has gotten both better funding and better organized in their efforts.

This marks the second time the government has engaged Boko Haram in negotiations. Moeller disagrees with the notion. "I feel like it's absolutely a dead end for the Christian community in Nigeria--for the entire nation of Nigeria--for them to engage in conversation with those that are so intent on destroying the fabric of freedom and the church in Nigeria."

Since most of the victims have been pastors and Christians, there has been growing concern that the Church will begin to fight back, which could lead to civil war. However, last week, the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor denied that. At the end of a special council meeting, Oritsejafor said that the association will continue to pray for the peaceful co-existence of the country.

According to a news release from their Web site, Oritsejafor is quoted as saying that "we will not encourage our people to carry arms against anybody whatsoever the situation may be. For those that are behind Boko Haram, you come to us with AK47, bombs, charms and other dangerous weapons, but we come to you in the name of God."

Moeller agrees. The first line of defense is prayer. "Pray that the Nigerian government would understand that compromising on the rights of its citizens, Christians, in the north in order to obtain a political solution to this crisis, will only result in losses of more freedoms, more restrictions, and more violence against Christians in those areas." 

The second defense: awareness. That's where Open Doors can help. They've got more information about partners they work with and the back story to the scenario in Nigeria at their Web site. Once armed with the facts, Moeller encourages believers to get involved.

The last line of defense, says Moeller, are the tools. Open Doors equips church leaders with training, tools and mentorship to help them work toward a consensus for peace and biblical response to the campaign of violence.

Despite the fear and concern rising in the Church body, they haven't forgotten their first love. Moeller notes the courage of believers under fire. "Some of the most dynamic and growing churches in the world are in southern Nigeria. The progress of the Gospel continues to go forward."

Believers are gearing up for more, but not for the reasons you might think. Moeller calls it the "paradox of persecution."

"As extremism rages in people's hearts, it produces a deeper vacuum, and that vacuum can only be filled by Jesus. 

Sometimes they don't even know that, but Jesus is still moving in people's hearts, even in the midst of this violence."

Church barely dodges bombing

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Nigeria (MNN) ― Revival Church in Central Nigeria just barely avoided a bomb attack on Tuesday, one of many moves against Christians in the country.

The bomb was discovered and safely removed by Nigeria’s Anti-bomb unit. So far, no groups have claimed the attempted attack.

This discovery came right on the tail of an attack the day before. Shooters surrounded Deeper Life Church in Central Nigeria, blocked the church entrance with a van, and murdered 19 believers. The pastor was among those killed.

While no group has claimed these attacks, the pattern matches that of the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram.

Carl Moeller with Open Doors USA says the targeting of Christians is part of an agenda. “This is an intentional effort on the part of the Muslim extremists to drive Christians completely out of the country, particularly out of the northern part of the country.”

Moeller says, “These attacks are an escalation of the violence that has plagued Nigeria along this north-south dividing line for years. It is accelerating at a rate that is very troubling.”

Boko Haram gives no indication of letting up on their attacks. Over the weekend, Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau released a video clip online. On the video, he demands that Nigerian Christian President Goodluck Jonathan “repent and forsake Christianity.” Shekau stated that if President Jonathan does not convert or resign, Boko Haram’s violent campaign will continue.

Reuben Abati, the presidential spokesman, dismissed the threat as attempted blackmail. But Boko Haram has been very systematic with carrying out their activities.

Such intimidation has failed to stomp out the faithfulness of Nigerian Christians. If anything, it has fanned the flame of devotion.

“As the Gospel spreads, it comes in contact with more and more hostile forces. They persecute those [who] are bringing the Good News of Christ,” says Moeller. “As persecution comes, Christians are forced to deal with the fact that superficial faith won’t cut, and so their faith becomes deeper and stronger. That of course encourages them to more boldly witness. This cycle continues.”

Open Doors has been working with the Nigerian church to bring encouragement and to help rebuild. According to Moeller, “It’s a daunting challenge because there’s so much violence in the area. Open Doors is often the primary organization going in when others are coming out.”

Projects include training churches to stand strong before violence occurs, and where violence occurs; rebuilding sanctuaries, replacing Bibles and books, and providing trauma counseling.

“We are there as a shoulder to cry on in many cases,” Moeller says. “But also with the hope of Christ in the midst of that trauma, Christ can actually come in and through the Holy Spirit heal the deep wounds that are caused by it.”

Open Doors also gives a voice to persecuted Nigerian Christians. They are actively involved in the media and present their case before authorities in Washington D.C. and the United Nations.

Moeller asks for prayer. “Pray for the church in Nigeria…that they would pray for those who persecute them, not attack them. And then that they would be able to rebuild and continue to bring the hope of Jesus Christ to their fellow countrymen.”

Boko Haram bomber now a martyr; trouble coming for Christians

(Photos courtesy Open Doors USA)

Nigeria (MNN) ― Security forces in Northern Nigeria warn more violence is coming. 

The grim report was confirmed by an e-mail released by the Boko Haram confirming their plans for the coming weeks. In Kaduna and Zaria where churches were bombed last week, a curfew is still in effect. 

The United States has imposed sanctions on three people associated with the militant group Boko Haram. It's a move aimed at disrupting the group's finances, since it appears the group has gotten both organized and funded since its re-emergence in 2010.

Open Doors reported two thwarted bombings over the weekend. Open Doors President and CEO, Dr. Carl Moeller, explains, "Boko Haram concealed a bomb in a coffin, claiming that it was a corpse. Fortunately, soldiers at a checkpoint insisted on seeing what was inside, and there were bombs in there. The men were arrested."

In the second attempt, a man was arrested when he masqueraded as someone who was interested in learning about Jesus Christ and to submit his life to Him. The man approached the pastor in the church. While talking, the pastor noticed a bag a few yards away. When he asked the possible convert about the bag, he denied knowing anything about the bag. But after the police discovered that the bag was filled with explosives, the would-be suicide bomber was arrested.

Then, with Sunday came a prison break, a fire fight, and the escape of 40 inmates who are members of Boko Haram. A top radical Islamist sect member blamed for a deadly Christmas Day church bombing in Nigeria was shot and killed by security forces in the fight. However, Habibu Bama's death may cause more problems than it solves. 

Boko Haram released a statement announcing it was happy about Bama's "martyrdom." Moeller says, "The jihad declared by Boko Haram is enough to push many of the extremist-influenced Muslims into violence against the Christian community, when you add the component of a martyr--someone who was intentionally sprung from jail this last week. He was killed in the ensuing fight, and that takes it to a whole other level."

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government fired the West African nation's security adviser and defense minister.  However, Moeller notes, "The firing of the national security leader in that country is not the worst part of it." It may have been calculated to keep dialogue open, but the real concern is that they hired a Muslim to replace the outgoing adviser. Moeller says, "Most of the Christians in the country are viewing this appointment as a mistake, because what will the orientation of this new Defense Minister be? Probably oriented to sympathize with a number of the Muslim communities."

It's a desperate move as the country continues to battle an insurgency that has cost hundreds their lives and displaced thousands. Militants are increasingly attacking civilians--in particular, Christians, which has inflamed religious tensions in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt region.  

Despite last week's reprisal violence, Moeller says by and large, "The only thing that's maintaining any level of social stability in the country is that the  Christians have not taken on the jihad against them with equal acts of violence." And yet, "You have a situation where it's almost untenable for the Christian community to do nothing."

What can be done? Pray. It's the first line of defense. "We are calling on Christians to seek God's face in the midst of this and let God fight the battle for them."

Moeller goes on to say that there is still a lot of fruit, despite the circumstances. "I just read a report from Operation World that had Nigeria's Christian church growing at three or four times the population growth. As big as the population growth is in Nigeria, the church is growing at a remarkably rapid pace."

An Open Doors co-worker is asking for prayer: "We really appreciate your concern and prayers. Continue to pray for us, and don't get tired. Our office might be among the places which the sect members may aim to attack at any time and any day. Pray that the Lord will deliver us."

Moeller agrees. "Pray for the Christians in Nigeria. Pray for the peace of the church in Nigeria. Pray for those that would be bombers against the church that they would have a dramatic Damascus Road conversion in some cases, and that testimony would also go out to encourage believers."

Nigeria is ranked No. 13 on the 2012 Open Doors World Watch List of 50 countries which are the worst persecutors of Christians. According to the World Watch List, Nigeria had at least 300 martyrs in 2011, although the actual number could be closer to 1,000.

Islamists Bomb Three Churches in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Blasts in two churches in Zaria, one in Kaduna city kill dozens of Christians.

By Abdias Pasoville

 

 The bombed Shalom Church in Kaduna city.
(Photo Courtesy: Compass Direct News)

JOS, Nigeria, June 17 (Compass Direct News) – Suspected Islamic extremists bombed three churches in Kaduna state this morning, the third consecutive Sunday that worship services in Nigeria have ended in lethal bloodshed.

 

In a predominantly Christian area of Zaria known as Wusasa, a suspected Islamic extremist crashed a car into a barricade at an Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) church at around 9 a.m., setting off explosives that killed at least 24 people and wounded 125, according to one unconfirmed report citing an anonymous state official. A few minutes later, suspected Islamic extremists set off explosives at Christ the King Catholic Church in the Sabon Gari area of Zaria.

 

An eyewitness told Compass that at least 10 corpses were removed from the cathedral, with dozens of people injured, many critically. At press time the Nigerian Red Cross Society reported the death toll from the blast at the Catholic church had reached 16.

 

A short while later, a Pentecostal congregation called Shalom Church in the Trikania area of Kaduna city was bombed, killing at least 10, according to the Red Cross. Retaliatory attacks reportedly killed several others.

 

The attacks were believed to have been carried out by the Boko Haram Islamic sect, which took responsibility for similar attacks in Plateau and Borno states on June 10 and in Bauchi state on June 3.

 

Andrew Gani-Ikilami, executive director of the Wusasa Business School in Zaria, said many victims were arriving at the area hospital.

 

“One of the churches is an ECWA church located here in Wusasa where we are, and many children are affected,” he said.

 

Dr. Taylor Adeyemi, medical director at St. Luke’s (Anglican) Hospital Wusasa in Zaria, confirmed that many of the victims were children.

 

“40 injured Christians have been brought to the hospital, and the majority of them are children,” Adeyemi said. “Three have died, and others are still being treated.”

 

John Shiklam, a journalist in Kaduna city, said a 24-hour-curfiew made it difficult to obtain more information on the blast there.

 

“All I can say is that it is true there were attacks on three churches in the state, and as a result, a fight broke out between Muslims and Christians,” Shiklam told Compass by phone.

 

Besides the bombing of a church in Jos, Plateau state last Sunday, gunmen also attacked  a church in the town of Biu in Borno state, killing two Christians (see www.compassdirect.org, “Suicide Bombing Hits Another Church in Jos, Nigeria,” June 10).

 

On June 3 in Bauchi state, a Muslim suicide bomber from the Boko Haram sect attacked the Living Faith church in Yelwa, a Christian settlement on the outskirts of the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, killing 13, with allegations following that authorities killed eight others who were protesting the lack of security. The blast also collapsed a wall of the nearby Harvest Field Church of Christ, leaving three people in critical condition (see www.compassdirect.org, “Blast Wreaks Bloodshed on Two Churches in Bauchi, Nigeria,” June 3). 

 

Boko Haram has killed at least 560 people this year alone, according to a county by The Associated Press. Literally meaning “Forbidden Book” and translated as “Western education is forbidden,” the Islamist sect has targeted churches, state offices, law enforcement sites and some moderate mosques in its effort to destabilize the government and impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on all of Nigeria.

 

Nigeria’s population of more than 158.2 million is divided between Christians, who make up 51.3 percent of the population and live mainly in the south, and Muslims, who account for 45 percent and live mainly in the north. The percentages may be less, however, as those practicing indigenous religions may be as high as 10 percent of the total population, according to Operation World.

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

**********

Copyright 2012 Compass Direct News

Sunday proves deadly in Nigeria

(Photos courtesy Open Doors USA)

Nigeria (MNN) ― Sunday was a bloody day in Nigeria.

Nigerians were reeling from news that there were likely no survivors from a plane crash in Lagos, when news about a suicide bomber striking Bauchi hit. Carl Moeller withOpen Doors USA explains, "Swallowed under the news of the plane crash was the news that there was another suicide bomber at a church in Northern Nigeria, in Bauchi. Apparently, at least 10 others were killed and 30 injured in that attack."

No one claimed the attack, however, the hallmarks point to the group that's been wreaking havoc among Christians this year. Moeller notes that "it's just another one of a series of attacks orchestrated by Boko Haram, an extremist terrorist group that is directing their violence against Christian in order to exterminate them from the northern  part of Nigeria."

Authorities say the attacker rammed through a checkpoint before detonating the bomb at the gate of Living Faith church. The attacked was timed to maximize casualties as members were leaving an early morning worship service. 

Eyewitness told Compass Direct News that the explosion also brought down a wall of the adjacent Harvest Field church.

Boko Haram last struck in late April, killing 22 people in two separate incidents. The group's name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's predominantly-Muslim north. Moeller says, "It literally puts almost a dividing line through the center of Nigeria, with the southern half being predominantly Christian and the northern half being predominantly Muslim. The Christians in the north obviously face extreme pressure to conform to Sharia law."

The sect's targets have included churches, often attacked by suicide car bombers. Why? There's a bigger picture than control over land. Moeller says, "Boko Haram has been at the forefront of calling for the eradication of Christians from this part of Nigeria and ultimately, from all of Nigeria. This is a very dangerous group, and I think people of America need to be aware of how utterly destabilizing this group is to a country that has the most populace in Africa."

A grab for power? It's at least a distraction for the current government. Moeller notes, "The reality is: this is the kind of violence that they want to precipitate across the entire country." More concerning is that it doesn't look like it will stop with just the North being under full Sharia. It's the kind of violence that president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathon, is facing spreading throughout the rest of the country."

Moeller says there are also concerns that Christians will strike back. On May 42, church leaders issued a final warning and issued demands for protection. Will this attack be the "tipping point?" Moeller says they're still encouraging believers not to give in to retaliation. "Violence in response to violence only produces more violence." However, he goes on to acknowledge that "the question here is, 'At what point is enough, enough?' You take whatever steps necessary to protect your family, your church, and your community. I think that point is drawing very close where the Christians of Nigeria are going to be making responses and retaliation."

Despite the Boko Haram's call for jihad, there's a bright side to this story. "The church is growing remarkably rapidly in Nigeria. Also, our co-workers continue to be extremely bold in their witness. This also is not only producing pain, suffering, and fear among Christians, [but] that fear is often being replaced by boldness, and it's also producing desperation in the Islamic community."

Pray. There is a deep, spiritual hunger growing throughout Nigeria. Believers have an opportunity like never before to bring the hope of the Gospel into play. "When Christians are being persecuted and they continue to show love to those who are persecuting them, that is the most powerful witness: the truth of the good news of Jesus and that there is a spiritual hope to be found in Jesus, despite all of this suffering."

You can see more of what Open Doors is doing in Nigeria through the Featured Links Section of our Web site.

Parents Torn over Loss of Daughter in Nigeria

Catholic troubled by Muslim college instructor disappears in volatile northeast.

BAUCHI, Nigeria, March 22 (CDN) — Nearly seven months after their 24-year-old daughter disappeared during a wave of Islamic extremist violence here, Helen and Dakim Gyang Bot can only assume that the voice on the other end of her cell phone that told them “we have killed her” was telling the truth.


The body of Simi Maltida Kim has not been found, and those who answered the active Catholic’s cell phone shortly after she disappeared on Sept. 1, 2011 did not indicate why they killed her. But there are signs that she was one of the hundreds of victims of Islamic extremist violence in northern Nigeria last year that has driven thousands of Christians to flee.


The Bots live in an undisclosed town near Jos, in Plateau state, but their daughter was a final-year student of Science Laboratory Technology at the Federal Polytechnic, in northeastern Nigeria’s Bauchi state. She had told them of an instructor there who humiliated her because of her Christian faith, they said.


“She told us that this Muslim teacher would summon her and then question her faith, or even bring in some Muslim students to confront her over her Christian faith,” said her mother, Helen Bot. “When she told us this, we advised her to keep away from the Muslim teacher as much as possible.”


The problem came to a head when the instructor failed her on a written exam without even looking at it, she said.


“This Muslim teacher did this to force our daughter into submitting to recanting her Christian faith, but this did not deter her from remaining firm as a Christian,” Helen Bot said.


Kim retook the exam. Right after turning it in, again the Muslim teacher took her answer sheet and followed her out of the examination hall, telling her that he would never allow her to pass his course.


“The Muslim teacher tore her answer sheet in the presence of other students,” Helen Bot said. “And, disturbed about this sad threat to her, Simi reported the matter to her school supervisor and the head of the Department of Science Laboratory Technology. She also phoned us to inform us about her plight in the school. We asked her to report the issue to appropriate authorities in the school and then return home.”


Officials at the Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi declined to comment on the matter.


On Sept. 1, Simi told her friends in school that she was returning to the Jos area. Her mother phoned her that day and was surprised that she did not answer. She told Compass that it was the first time her daughter had never picked up the call.


“We communicated on the phone almost on a daily basis, and whenever I called her, even if she was sleeping, she would wake up and call me back,” she said. “So it was unusual that day when I phoned her several times and she did not respond.”


Dakim Gyang Bot, Kim’s 59-year-old father, told Compass that when she did not return home the next day, the family was all the more anxious because news had filtered into town that Christians were being killed in Bauchi city.


“We phoned her, and instead, someone answered the phone,” he said. “The voice was that of a male Muslim – we were able to know this from his accent; the man spoke to us in Hausa language, confirming our fears that he must be a Muslim. He refused to tell us where our daughter was.”


The family immediately contacted two of her Christian friends in Bauchi, who searched for her without success, he said. They sent back word, however, that Muslim extremists had killed some Christians there on the day Kim was to leave for the Jos area.


“Her friends were told at the Bauchi motor park that some Christians who had got to the motor park on that day were killed by some militant Muslims,” Bot said.


The family reported the disappearance to police and the State Security Service and continued to call her mobile phone, in hopes that someone would answer again. Someone did. This time, a female with a similar Hausa accent said, “Don’t ever call this phone number again – we have killed her, so stop wasting your time looking for her,” her father said.


The priest at the family’s Catholic church told Compass that Kim might well have been killed by Muslim extremists in Bauchi.


“We learned that many Christians were killed in Bauchi at that time, so we are convinced that she must have been killed, too,” he said.


He described Kim and her parents as faithful and prayerful.


“In fact, in the past six months, her parents have been on their knees praying for her even with the knowledge that she must have been killed by Muslim militants,” he said.


Born Feb. 12, 1987, Kim was active in the Legion of Mary and the fellowship of Catholic students while at Bauchi Federal Polytechnic. A membership certificate from Christ the King Catholic Chaplaincy in Bauchi commends her as a distinguished member of the Catholic fellowship who was actively involved in the activities of the Legion of Mary.


Attacks on Christians in Bauchi state date back to 1958, but the recent incursion of Boko Haram has resulted in the killings of a dozen pastors and hundreds of Christians, sources said. Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro local government areas, which are mainly inhabited by Christians, have become the targets of attacks by Boko Haram sect members and Muslim Fulani herdsmen.


Boko Haram seeks to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on Nigeria. The name Boko Haram translates loosely as “Western education is forbidden.”


On Jan. 22, two church buildings were bombed by Boko Haram in Bauchi city. The two churches, Evangelical Church Winning All 2 and St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, are located in the Fadaman Mada area near the town’s railway station. On the same day, Boko Haram members attacked Tafawa Balewa town, killing six Christians.


Other major towns and local government areas where Christians have been attacked and their church buildings destroyed are Bauchi, Alkaleri, Toro, Bulkachuwa, Misau, Darazo, and Azare.


In October and November 2011, 25 Boko Haram sect members were arrested in a training camp in Bauchi, where they were preparing to attack Christians. Security agencies recovered 435 rounds of ammunitions, 26 pistols, a pump action machine gun, and many explosive devices from the Islamists.


Nigeria’s population of more than 158.2 million is divided between Christians, who make up 51.3 percent of the population and live mainly in the south, and Muslims, who account for 45 percent of the population and live mainly in the north. The percentages may be less, however, as those practicing indigenous religions may be as high as 10 percent of the total population, according to Operation World.


END

Iraqi Teenagers Stoned to Death for Western Dress and ‘emo’ Haircuts

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) -- Religious extremists in Baghdad have stoned to death at least 90 Iraqi teenagers with "emo" appearances in the past month after an inflammatory interior ministry statement dubbed it "devil worshiping," activists said.

An online article published March 9 at http://english.al-akhbar.com  says that  Iraq's Moral Police released a chilling statement on the interior ministry's website condemning the "emo phenomenon" among Iraqi youth, disturbingly declaring its intent to "eliminate" the trend.

"The 'Emo phenomenon' or devil worshiping is being followed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate [the phenomenon] as soon as possible since it's detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger," the statement read.

"They wear strange, tight clothes that have pictures on them such as skulls and use stationary that are shaped as skulls. They also wear rings on their noses and tongues, and do other strange activities," it continued.

The website says that religious extremists caught onto the interior ministry statement, and have been harassing and killing teenagers with "strange" or "emo" appearances.

“A group of armed men dressed in civilian clothing led dozens of teenagers to secluded areas a few days ago, stoned them to death, and then disposed their bodies in garbage dumpsters across the capital,” according to activists.

The armed men are said to belong to “one of the most extremist religious groups” in Iraq, the website stated.

“First they throw concrete blocks at the boy's arms, then at his legs, then the final blow is to his head, and if he is not dead then, they start all over again,” one person who managed to escape told the Al-Akhbar website.

The website goes on to say that Iraq's moral police was granted approval by the Ministry of Education to enter Baghdad schools and pinpoint students with such appearances, according to the interior ministry's statement.

The exact death toll remains unclear, but Hana al-Bayaty of Brussels Tribunal, an NGO dealing with Iraqi issues, said the current figure ranges "between 90 and 100," the website said.

"What's most disturbing about this is that they're so young," she said.

According to the web report, Al-Bayaty said the killings appear to have been carried out by extremist Shia militias in mostly poor Shia neighborhoods and said she suspected "there's complicity of the Ministry of Interior in the killings."

Photos of the victims were released on Facebook, causing panic and fear among Iraqi students, the website said.

The web report said a young man with long hair expressed alarm at the government-ordained harassment of teenagers with Western appearances.

“I have long hair but that doesn't mean I'm an Emo. I'm not less of a man if I have long hair. Let's not say that if I have long hair, I'm a homosexual, but I have long hair because this is my style, this is me," he told Iraq's Al-Sharqiya television network.

Safiyyah al-Suhail, an Iraqi MP, said on Thursday that "some students have been recently arrested because they were wearing American jeans or had Western haircuts."

The web report explained that the interior ministry has not disclosed the number of teenage victims, but released a follow-up statement on Thursday warning extremists "not to step on public freedom of Iraqis."

News of the gruesome deaths drew a stern reaction from Iraq's prominent Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who criticized the stoning of the young men as "an act of terrorism."

The Director of the Moral Police of the Interior Ministry released a statement, saying "The 'Emo phenomenon' or devil worshiping is being followed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate [the phenomenon] as soon as possible since it's detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger."

The website further explained that 'Emo' comes from the English word 'emotional' and the phenomenon is popular among teenagers not only in Iraq, but in most societies. They use their appearances and movements as a method to express their emotions and embody their will and their view of life in their behavior.

Colonel Mushtaq Taleb al-Mahemdawi said: "The Emo Phenomenon was discovered a while back by members of our force in Baghdad. A report has been made and given to the Ministry of Interior to receive an approval to carry on with the investigation and to know how to eliminate the phenomenon."

He added: "The Ministry of Interior took this situation very seriously and received an approval from the Ministry of Education to set a plan under my full supervision and to allow us to enter schools in the capital."

"There are some cases of the spread of this phenomenon specifically among schools in Baghdad, but we are facing great difficulty in the lack of women on the force who would allow us to carry the investigation more accurately since the phenomenon is more popular among girls between the ages of 14 and 18."

"They wear strange, tight clothes that have pictures on them such as skulls and use stationary (sic) that are shaped as skulls. They also wear rings on their noses and tongues, and do other strange activities."

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Bible Translation Center moves forward despite Boko Haram concerns

Cameroon (MNN) ― Boko Haram's efforts to rid Nigeria of Christians has also raised concerns in neighboring Cameroon.

There are reports from Cameroon's Muslim leaders that religious extremism could be gaining a foothold.

According to the Cameroon Association of Imams, there are some mosques that have allowed the Boko Haram to preach. Boko Haram is a jihadist terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria.  

It seems that the concern is serious enough that Muslim leaders may look at regulating religious groups in an effort to keep Boko Haram's extremism out of Cameroon.

At the same time, Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that involves people in the acceleration of Bible translation efforts, is moving forward on plans to build a new Bible translation center in Cameroon.

Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates says, "There is a lot of concern about what might happen, but so far, it's been peaceful. We're obviously concerned that the translations would be able to move forward without interruption. We'd certainly request people to pray." 

The region is strategic to unreached people groups. Smith explains, "It's a place where there are so many different languages--about 300 in Nigeria and about another 100 in Cameroon--that are still without one verse of Scripture. We are convinced that the best solution for the instability and the concerns that have arisen there is that God's Word go forward in a language that they can understand."

The project has been a long time in the planning, made even longer by unexpected delays. "The main holdup has actually been that the government has been thinking about building a football (soccer) stadium, and recently the approval came through to start the construction project for the training center. So we're moving ahead with it now, along with our partner, the Cameroonian Bible Translation Association."

The idea is to move the training closer to the actual language work itself. The current Bamenda Translation Training Center is actually a tiny, old, three-bedroom house and three other houses spread out over four separate properties. A new Bible translation training center would provide a more efficient space which would help facilitate the more than 40 language projects that are currently underway in Cameroon.   

Now that the last obstacle has been cleared away, Wycliffe Associates wants to waste no more time getting a  training center in Bamenda built. They're raising the first $50,000 to launch. "We're actually going to begin immediately. We have a construction superintendent assigned; we've got materials being ordered at this time. We've got volunteers, professional construction people from the United States who are going to assist with the local laborers."

Once the work teams make it to the site, Smith says, "We expect that they'll be finished in about a year, at least with the initial phase, and then maybe continuing beyond that with some additional buildings."

Why the rush? "The need for Scripture is so great in Cameroon that there are many more communities, many more people desperate for hope," says Smith. "We have a window of opportunity now to provide national translators the resources needed to accelerate translation efforts and reach the remaining language groups."

Wycliffe Associates involves people in accelerating the work of Bible translation through their time, talents, and treasure. Because millions of people around the world are still waiting to read the Scriptures in the language of their heart, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as they can to translate every verse of the Bible into every tongue to change every heart.

The organization partners with nationals, mother-tongue translators, staff, volunteers, and supporters to direct and fund these efforts, as well as provide logistics, networking, and technical support. Through a growing global network, Wycliffe Associates is striving to overcome local limitations of time and resources to achieve the goal of beginning the translation of God's Word in every remaining language that needs it by 2025.

Islamists in Egypt Use Rumors to Attack Christians

Salafis attack in one village, while officials in another overturn evictions.

ISTANBUL, March 5 (CDN) — Tensions remain high in an Egyptian village where as many as 5,000 mostly Salafi Muslims went on a rampage over a false rumor that a church was holding a girl against her will in order to convert her back to Christianity.


Dismissing media reports of 20,000 rioting Muslims, sources told Compass that between 2,000 and 5,000 hard-line Muslims, most of them from the Salafi movement, last month harassed Christian villagers in Meet Bahsar in the Nile Delta, attacked a church building in a misguided effort to “save” the girl, damaged a priest’s house and then destroyed his car.


The 14-year-old girl’s father, an ethnic Copt who converted to Islam, had stirred them up on the mistaken notions that his daughter had converted to Islam and that Christians had kidnapped her, the church priest told Compass.


“Things are partly calmer now, and parishioners still go to church but they are a bit hesitant,” said the Rev. Gerges Gamil of the Church of the Virgin Mary. “Some things got broken in my house, because they threw rocks and stones at the house, and my car was destroyed, but thankfully no one in my family was hurt.”


The girl, 14, was not in the church building. It was unclear if her father was merely mistaken about her location or intentionally misled villagers.


The attack mainly by Salafists, an extremist movement that patterns its belief and practices on the first three generations of Muslims, happened on the evening of Feb. 12. Skirmishes in Meet Bahsar lasted for two days, with Muslim villagers threatening to kidnap Coptic girls in retaliation for the alleged kidnapping.


Some media reported that the rioters knocked down a wall surrounding the church, but priests speaking on behalf of the parish said the wall was already being demolished.


The events that led to the attack involved a family dispute.


The girl’s father, Khalil Ibrahiem Mouhamed Abd Allah, converted to Islam in 2009, and then divorced his Christian wife and married a Muslim woman. Abd Allah claimed that his daughter converted to Islam in October of last year. In February, the girl got engaged to a Muslim man in her father’s village, but shortly after the engagement she ran away.


“She got engaged to a Muslim man called Ahmed Abdallah, but she was still in touch with some Christians, and after the engagement she disappeared,” Abd Allah told local media. “So, I immediately thought that the Christians kidnapped her.”


By contrast, the girl reportedly said her father treated her poorly and that she never converted to Islam. She confirmed the engagement but said that ultimately she couldn’t continue with it because the groom-to-be was Muslim.


The girl was able to make it to Cairo, but after finding out about the attacks and the reports that she was being held against her will, she contacted police. Her location was not publicly known at press time, but she has reportedly asked not to be returned to her father or mother.


Egyptian newspapers have reported that she was either in state care or the custody of an uncle. She reportedly said she went to Cairo to stay with an uncle.


The Salafi movement is made up of extremely conservative Muslims increasingly known for their vitriolic rhetoric and attacks against churches in Egypt. The Salafis have used rumors of kidnappings or relationships between Christians and Muslims to incite other attacks against Christians. In May 2011, an attack in downtown Cairo left 12 people dead and at least one church building in ruins.


More recently, in January Salafists terrorized Christians of a village in northern Egypt after an unsubstantiated rumor spread about a video recording of a Coptic man having sex with a Muslim woman. The Muslims in Sharbat, near Alexandria, rioted and then forced numerous Christians to abandon their property in informal but binding “reconciliation councils,” though a parliamentary commission overturned the council decision last month, and most of the evicted Christian families have returned home.


Human rights activists say such councils are unjust and are often a guise to force members of the Coptic minority to relinquish their rights.


END

Doctors Try to Save Remaining Eye of Ugandan Pastor

Pastor Umar Mulinde, in Sheba Hospital in Tel-Aviv,
 Israel, is fighting to save sight in his left eye after acid
 attack in Uganda. (Photo: Compass)

Another pastor, close friend of victim of acid attack, is also ambushed.

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 28 (CDN) — While a Ugandan pastor was fighting to retain sight in his remaining eye after an acid attack, Muslim extremists this month were shooting at his close friend, a leader of another church.

Doctors at Sheba Hospital in Tel-Aviv, Israel, are still not sure what kind of chemicals Muslim extremists cast on Bishop Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church International outside of Kampala last Christmas Eve, but they know that the acid is threatening the vision in his remaining eye.

“I am regaining my sight, though the healing progress is a bit slow,” Mulinde told Compass by phone. “Doctors are still looking for ways to save it, but it seems a complicated case. The chemical was very strong, and each day it was going deeper, with pain increasing day by day; even the doctors are interested to know which type of acid it was, because it really did great damage to me.”

Mulinde, a former sheikh (Islamic teacher) who became the target of Islamic extremists after converting to Christianity in 1993, said his left eye has been getting better under the specialized treatment he has been able to receive since Compass publicized the attack on him (see www.compassdirect.org, “Muslim Extremists in Uganda Throw Acid on Bishop,” Dec. 28, 2011).

“The damaged right eye is somehow affecting the left eye,” Mulinde said. “The doctors are thinking of removing the right eye with hope of saving the left eye.”

Muslim extremists are opposed not only to his conversion from Islam but his outspoken opposition tosharia (Islamic law) courts in Uganda, he said. On Oct. 15, 2011, area Muslim leaders declared a fatwaagainst him demanding his death. He is known for debates locally and internationally in which he often challenges Muslims regarding their religion.

Mulinde said he was encouraged that ministry is continuing at his church in Namasuba, about 10 kilometers (six miles) outside of Kampala, though his friend Zachariah Serwadda, a pastor with an Evangel Church congregation, was ambushed on Feb. 4 after an evangelistic outreach in the predominantly Muslim town of Mbale.

Serwadda, who has been attacked by Islamic extremists before, told Compass he was not sure how many began firing guns at his car at 10:30 p.m.

“I only heard several voices as I dropped down when the windshield of my vehicle got broken,” said Serwadda, who was unhurt in the attack. “It could be the same group [that attacked Mulinde]. It seems it’s the same network, because after attacking Bishop Mulinde they threw down letters at the Gospel Life Church International there threatening to attack other preachers like him.”

The attack took place on Tirinyi Road, between Mbale and Kamonkole, he said. Three other Christians were with him at the time. Since the Feb. 4 attack, the only security precaution he has taken was to report the incident at Iganga police station, he said.

Serwadda said there seems to be a new wave of persecution against Christians in Uganda. Besides Mulinde, also attacked last year were church leaders Hassan Muwanguzi and Hassan Sharif Lubenga, he said, and there were two other serious incidents, one in 2010 and one in 2009.

“In 2010 pastor Jamada Kikomeko of Nateete Victory Church was attacked during a gospel outreach in Entebbe town – bullets were shot with intent to assassinate him while he was returning from the outreach that night,” he said. “He managed to escape, took his coat and ran on foot for safety.”

The assailants vandalized his car, smashing all the windshields, he added.

In 2009, evangelist Yazid Muwanguzi was assaulted in Nakaloke, in Mbale district, barely escaping with his life after Muslims attacked chanting “Allahu Akbar [Arabic for “God is greater”], Serwadda said.

“But some Christians were severely injured,” he said.

Serwadda also survived a barrage of gunfire in 1997. A Muslim extremist tried to stop him as he was coming home from an evangelistic outreach in Jinja, but Serwadda saw an armed group standing on both sides of the road, he said; refusing to stop, he drove through as 20 bullets struck his vehicle.

He called his survival “miraculous.”


END

Arab Spring Brings the Decline of Secularism in Tunisia

Throughout the Middle East, long-standing dictators just ousted in the Arab Spring are being replaced by more oppressive forms of governance, even in the Arab world’s most liberal country, Tunisia

By Aidan Clay
Special to ASSIST News Service

TUNIS, TUNISIA (ANS) -- Widely seen as the most secular country that recently deposed long-standing leaders, many believed that Tunisia had the greatest opportunity to elect a moderate government concerned with democratic principles and human rights. However, the hopes of secularists, Christians, and other minorities were crippled in October when the Islamist Ennahda party won 41 percent of the votes for a national constitutional assembly, a one-year body charged with writing a constitution.

Uprising in Tunis that ousted President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali

Along with other Islamist movements, Ennahda – at the time called the Movement of the Islamic Tendency – had been outlawed under former President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali. Robin Wright, an American foreign affairs analyst and author of Sacred Rage, described the Islamic Tendency as “the single most threatening opposition force [to Ben Ali’s regime] in Tunis.”

Ennahda’s founder and chairman is Rashid Ghannouchi. He considers himself a pupil of Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini, defended the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, and supported Saddam Hussein’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait in 1990. In a speech given in Khartoum just before the Gulf War erupted, Ghannouchi said, “We must wage unceasing war against the Americans until they leave the land of Islam, or we will burn and destroy all their interests across the entire Islamic world,” The Brussels Journal reported.

Martin Kramer, the renowned Middle East scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, labeled Ghannouchi “the most prominent Islamist in the West” during his 22-year exile in the U.K. At an Islamic Conference on Palestine attended by leaders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 1990, Ghannouchi said, “The greatest danger to civilization, religion and world peace is the United States Administration. It is the Great Satan.”

The international community has ignored this extremist rhetoric and extolled Tunisia’s revolutionary motives for ‘greater freedoms.’ However, Ennahda is beginning to show its true colors by attacking freedom of speech and tacitly disregarding violent Islamist movements calling for an Islamic state.

Death of Free Speech

Nabil Karoui, the owner of Tunisian channel Nessma TV, is currently on trial for blasphemy after airing the French-Iranian animated film Persepolis which features a cartoon depiction of God and is considered sacrilege to some Muslims. Nearly 140 lawyers filed lawsuits against Karoui for “violating sacred values” and “disturbing public order,” Tunisia Live reported. Following the release of the film in Tunisia, a Salifist-led mob damaged Karoui’s house with Molotov cocktails on October 14. If convicted, Karoui could face three to five years in prison. His trial has been adjourned until April 19, 2012.

“I am very sad when I see that the people that burned my house are free while I am here because I broadcast a film which was authorized,” Karoui told reporters outside the courtroom. He described the trial as the “death of freedom of expression [in Tunisia],” AP reported.

While Human Rights Watch called the trial “a disturbing turn for the nascent Tunisian democracy,” Ghannouchi, the voice of the Ennahda party, backed the trial, saying, “I support the Tunisians’ right to denounce this attack on their religion,” reported The New York Times.

On February 15, in a second disturbing attack on free speech in Tunisia, a publisher and two editors of Tunisia’s Attounissia newspaper were arrested on charges of violating public morals for publishing a revealing photograph of a German-Tunisian football player with his girlfriend. 

The arrests raised further concerns among secularists that the Islamist-led government will increasingly seek to censor material it deems offensive to Islam.

Mongi Khadraoui, a senior member of the Tunisian journalists’ union, told The Independent that article 121 of Tunisia’s penal code, which was used to detain the three journalists, was introduced to arrest opponents of Ben Ali’s 23-year-old regime, and that, while the publication of the photograph was a mistake, it “should be treated as a professional error rather than a crime.”

“This issue is political and aims to quell the voice of the media and stop it [from] criticizing the government,” Jihen Lagmari, a journalist at Attounissia, told Reuters. Lagmari also said she received telephone calls threatening to burn down the paper’s headquarters.

Islamists vs. Secularists

On February 17, hundreds of Salafis – who follow the strict Wahhabi doctrine of Islam – protested in the streets of Tunis with signs calling for Islamic law and shouting “Allah Akbar” after Friday prayers, AP reported.

Thus, Islamists have used their newly gained freedoms to threaten the very freedoms and values of secularists. If Islamists continue to gain power, violations against the rights of non-Muslims and liberals will inevitably continue. However, some believe the elections – that brought the Islamist Ennahda party to power – do not accurately represent the voice of the population’s majority.

“In October 2011, when Tunisia’s first post-revolutionary national elections took place… the turnout was 80 percent; but not, as was deceptively reported by the Western media, 80 percent of the total Tunisian population, but rather 80 percent of the 50 percent who had bothered to register to vote,” British author and journalist John R. Bradley wrote in his book After the Arab Spring. “In other words: Ennahda won despite the fact that more than 80 percent of all voting-age Tunisians did not actually vote for the party.”

Tunis witnessed the secularists’ response when over 6,000 demonstrators chanted slogans “No to extremism” and “No niqab, no to Salafism” in a march for freedom of expression on January 28, Tunisia Live reported. Protestors also called for the government to stop the rise of an Islamist-based society, which would derail Tunisia’s transition to democracy and threaten the gains made by the revolution.

Mustapha Tlili, the founder of the New York-based Center for Dialogues, views the recent actions taken by Islamists as an indicator that Islamists are hijacking the revolution. “Those that staged the revolution see it being stolen and hijacked,” Tlili told Middle East Online. “The Islamists’ discourse is to withdraw Tunisia from its natural environment and make it adopt Islamist values that are not those of the majority of Tunisians. They reject these values because they are not part of their daily life or vision of Islam.”

“We’ve become the ahl al-dhimma,” Abdelhalim Messaoudi, a journalist at Nessma TV, told The New York Times in reference to the second-class status minorities have historically been subjected to in Muslim states. “It’s like the Middle Ages.”

What’s Next? An Islamic State?

On February 20, Aridha Chaabia, or Popular List, the third-largest party in Tunisia's constituent assembly, proposed drafting a constitution based on Islamic law, Reuters reported. If the proposal wins the support of more than 60 percent of parliamentarians, it could pass without a referendum. Rashid Ghannouchi’s Ennahda party, which will have the strongest voice in the vote, has already alluded to its endorsement of an Islamic-based constitution.

Protestors in Tunis

Hamadi Jebali, the Prime Minister of the Ennahda party, implied in mid-November that he sought a return of the Muslim caliphate. He further stated at a rally near his hometown of Sousse, standing side-by-side with a lawmaker from the Islamic Palestinian movement Hamas, that “the liberation of Tunisia will, God willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

“[Ghannouchi’s] only condition for Muslim democracy to flourish is the sharing of the immutable principles of Islam as a shared set of values,” Larbi Sadiki, a senior lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, wrote in an editorial for Al Jazeera.

Samir Dilou, spokesman for the Ennahdha Party, tried to ease secularists’ concerns in an interview in May: “We do not want a theocracy. We want a democratic state that is characterized by the idea of freedom. The people must decide for themselves how they live…We are not an Islamist party, we are an Islamic party, which gets its direction from the principles of the Quran.”

But, can an Islamic party governed by the principles of the Quran value the freedoms of the country’s secularists, including its religious minorities? Katharine Cornell Gorka, the Executive Director of The Westminster Institute, does not think so.

“Of all the people in the world, Americans first and foremost should recognize the absurdity of [Dilou’s] statement,” Gorka wrote. “All the evidence is there to suggest that Tunisia’s new government will prove antagonistic both to American interests and to the values America is built on. That is not to suggest we should have intervened to create a different outcome. Tunisia’s fate is its own. But neither should we be at the front of the cheering section, applauding what will likely be a long and brutal lesson for Tunisia on what happens when religion is enchained with politics.”

Recent indicators in Tunisia suggest that Islam and democracy are not and cannot be compatible. John R. Bradley, in his book After the Arab Spring, offers an alarming glimpse into Tunisia’s future governance: “[Ghannouchi] is for democracy ‘as a system of government and a method of change’ but – and here comes the conversation stopper – only insofar as it is compatible with Islam. The Quran remains the sole authoritative bases for legislation, whose earthly manifestation are the scholars… who interpret it so that the state’s function is essentially executive in nature. To put it in a nutshell: Islam is the answer to everything, the final authority, and the sole source of legitimacy of government.”

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Aidan Clay is the Middle East Regional Manager for International Christian Concern (ICC), a Washington, DC-based human rights organization that exists to support persecuted Christians worldwide by providing awareness, advocacy, and assistance (www.persecution.org). Aidan is a graduate from Biola University in Southern California. Prior to joining ICC, Aidan worked with Samaritan’s Purse in South Sudan and has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Africa and Europe. He and his wife currently live in Nairobi, Kenya. For more information, contact Aidan Clay at clay@persecution.org 

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Boko Haram hits Kano again

(Photos by Compass Direct)

Nigeria (MNN) ― Explosions and the sound of gunfire were heard throughout Nigeria's largest northern city of Kano Wednesday.

The military spent the day engaged with suspected militants from the Boko Haram Islamist sect, with clashes that have become increasingly violent.

One of Boko Haram's signature moves is setting off multiple bombs in succession followed by shooting sprees. The terrorist group is suspected in for church bombings on Sunday in Suleja and claimed responsibility for attacks on Tuesday in Maiduguri.

The February 19 church attack came just two months after Islamists killed 44 Christians and blinded seven in a church bombing in nearby Madalla. Carl Moeller is President and CEO of Open Doors USA. He says this is not surprising. "The increasingly intentional activity of Boko Haram is now taking on the characteristics of a real war. These are not random attacks, as they're often characterized in the media. They're really intentional, and they're designed with one purpose in mind: the elimination of Christianity."

Boko Haram, which is waging an insurgency to try to impose Sharia law, has become increasingly coordinated and deadly in its methods in the last six months. In Hausa, the name means "Western education is forbidden."

What's more disconcerting is that since they reformed after being crushed in 2009, Moeller says, it looks like they got help. "All indications are that they're connected to the global terror network like Al Shabbab and Al Qaeda and others. We've seen Boko Haram become far more organized and intentional about their attacks. It's very clear that there's a strengthening here."

Compass Direct News reports Sunday's bomb was planted in a parked car outside of Christ Embassy church. Triumphant Ministries International Church was close enough to make investigators suspect both churches had been targets. Authorities arrested members of the sect the same day.  

Even with the arrests, stopping the carnage won't happen in the near future. Moeller explains, "Nothing we can see is showing that there's enough resolve at the government level, enough coordination, to destroy the network within Northern Nigeria. Frankly, the tide in Nigeria is very strong WITH Boko Haram."

There's been little international outcry on behalf of the Christians. The crisis does not seem to merit attention on the international stage, says Moeller. "Frankly, most of the world is quite reticent to get involved in some distant conflict in Nigeria. With so many things other happening around the world, Nigeria happens to fall off the plate of international attention, and yet unfortunately, that's going to result in thousands of more deaths."

However, many of the Christians Open Doors has been partnering with refuse to give up or to flee. They are still meeting for worship, and the Gospel is still going forward. "The fact that the church continues to meet in some of these places that churches have been burned out and they continue to assemble, has been a great testimony to their persecutors, that this message of Jesus is valid and powerful."  

Moeller goes on to say that, "Nigeria is so important to the spread of Christianity throughout Africa. Please pray with me for the Christians in Nigeria and for wisdom for President Goodluck Jonathan in dealing with the attacks and instability."

One thing that can be done for believers is prayer. Many believers face quandaries on at least two fronts: fight back with deadly force against the attackers, or don't. Stay or go. "Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us and to bless our enemies. That's kind of the role the church in Nigeria has to take up now. That they're doing it is a testimony to the truth of the Gospel."

Nigeria is ranked No. 13 on the Open Doors World Watch List of 50 countries which are the worst persecutors of Christians. According to World Watch List, Nigeria had at least 300 martyrs in 2011, although the actual number could be doubled or tripled. That number is the most in any country, although North Korea could have had more, but information is hard to obtain due to the isolation of the communist state.