Nuns Traumatized after School Attack in Egypt

One hospitalized for breakdown after sword-wielding Muslims converge.

CAIRO, Egypt, March 16 (CDN) — Two nuns in Upper Egypt faced “unimaginable fear” – with one later hospitalized over the emotional trauma – when 1,500 Muslim villagers brandishing swords and knives trapped them inside a guesthouse last week and threatened to burn them out.


The next day, the assailants frightened children at the school; attendance has since dropped by more than a third.


Accusing the nuns of building a church at the site, the throng on March 4 chanted Islamic slogans as they surrounded the guesthouse of a privately run, public school in the village of Abu Al-Reesh, in Aswan Province. Two nuns, volunteer teachers at Notre Dame Language Schools, barricaded themselves into the school’s guesthouse for about eight hours.


The women were “terrified,” said Magdy Melad, director of the school.


“No matter what I say, I cannot give a picture of the fear and the worry they had,” Melad said.


School workers hid a third nun from the mob in a separate building on the campus out of fear that the mob would attack her as well. While two of the three nuns are Egyptian, one with a French name holds both Egyptian and French passports.


Conservative Muslims began milling around the school and accosting school employees at 2 p.m. on March 4. A group of men with swords stopped one employee and accused him of “building a church, and we are coming to attack the place,” the employee told Melad, who was at the scene of the attack.


“Huge numbers of people with swords, knives and daggers were gathering,” Melad said. “All that was in my head was that I was worried about the nuns. So I called and told them not to open the door and not to move until I came to get them.”


The Muslims tried to push their way into the building as the nuns kept calling for help. The door to the guesthouse is made of heavy reinforced metal, according to Melad, which prevented the building from being breached. Members of the mob ransacked the entire building, stealing security cameras, electrical equipment and a satellite dish on top of the guesthouse, among other items.


From three mosques near the school, people began shouting over loudspeakers in minarets, summoning more Muslims to surround the guesthouse.


“People of Abu Al-Reesh, get down [there] – the Christians are building a church and building a monastery,” the loudspeakers blared, according to Melad Kamel Garas, owner of the school. “The Christians took our ancestor’s land and are building a church.”

School workers tried to get the nuns out of the building, but the Muslims sent them away.


“When we tried to get them out, they refused to let them out, and they wanted to burn them alive in the guesthouse,” Garas said.


School employees called police, but initially only three officers showed up, according to Melad. The mob set upon them. Four more trucks arrived with reinforcements, but authorities were still unable to control the mob.


Eventually, school workers began talking with moderate Muslims and were able, along with the police contingent, to get all the nuns out. As the women were pulled through the crowd, different men began shouting that they were “pigs” and “infidels” who wanted to “build a church,” according to Garas.


The two nuns suffered cuts and bruises in the attack, and one fainted during the ordeal, according to Garas. The women were taken to a Catholic church in Aswan, except for one, who suffered what Melad characterized as a “major” nervous breakdown and had to be transported on March 8 to Cairo, where she was hospitalized.


The three nuns, who range in age from 30s to mid-50s, were part of a volunteer contingent brought to the school to teach manners to younger students. The nuns have been there for a year and are certified teachers. They did not teach religious classes other than to Christian students; school officials inspected all of their course work and materials, and their texts were approved by the national Ministry of Education, Melad said.


“They are committed to teach what the Ministry of Education has told them to teach,” Melad said.


The next day, the mob started intermittently attacking the school itself.


“They scared the children in a very, very bad way,” Melad said. “The children were so scared, terrified.”


Notre Dame Language Schools enrolls about 560 students ranging from preschoolers to ninth graders. It is open to students from all faiths; roughly 360 of the students are Muslim, the rest being members of the Coptic minority. Having opened two years ago, the school has about 170 employees, 60 of them Coptic Christians and the rest Muslims.


After the nuns were removed from the guesthouse, members of the mob refused to let anyone inside, even after police inspected the building’s interior and found no place of worship.


Leaders of the mob told school officials that they were not allowed to use the guesthouse. They also said the school could no longer continue doing construction work around the guesthouse.


Eventually the Muslims left the school property, and police posted a guard outside the building. But now the Islamists have enlisted a group of children who mill around the guesthouse and tell them if anyone goes inside, according to Melad.


This poses a problem because the guesthouse is also the utility control room for the school; all electrical switches, and the valves for the school water supply, are located there. School workers find themselves in the strange position of having to ask people from the mob to use school property. Police, Garas said, have done nothing to regain control of the guesthouse.


As a result, attendance at the school has dropped by 34 percent, something Garas said he understands.


“All the loss in property, that can be replaced,” Garas said. “But all I am worried about is I don’t want to lose one of the children. Because God forbid, if in an irrational act like this, one of the children got injured or hurt, all the money in the world wouldn’t be able to fix or replace that.”


An attempt is underway to force school officials into a “reconciliation meeting,” which in Egypt usually results in Christians having to accept concessions with nothing in return. In September another group of Muslims in Aswan rioted outside another guesthouse, wrongly claiming that church officials were building a house of worship inside. In a reconciliation meeting, church officials agreed to remove the crosses outside the building and not to ring any church bells.


This wasn’t enough, and eventually Salafis and other hard-line Muslim villagers began rioting again. Ultimately church officials entered another series of reconciliation meetings. Altogether, the priests conceded to every major demand the Muslim villagers made but received no conciliatory offers in return. While the domes on top of the church building were being removed in accordance with the meetings, the villagers attacked and burned it to the ground.


The priest of the church was later charged with a building violation and sentenced to six months in jail. None of the Muslims who attacked the church building have been charged. The priest will appeal the sentence.


Reconciliation meetings are, in theory, arbitration meetings between two equal entities that are loosely based on traditional tribal councils. But most human rights activists in Egypt say that the reconciliation process works to deny rights to powerless groups while maintaining an image of legality and fairness.


All in all, Garas said, the persecution in Aswan echoes what seems to be an unofficial motto there, “No Christians allowed.”



END

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

Suicide Bombers Attack Worship Service in Jos, Nigeria

Remains of car used by suicide bombers to attack church in
 Jos, Nigeria. (Photo: Compass)

At least one Christian dead, 38 injured in blast at denominational headquarters.

JOS, Nigeria, February 26 (CDN) — Two suicide bombers from the Boko Haram Islamist sect drove a car laden with bombs into the worship service of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) congregation here this morning, killing at least one Christian and injuring dozens of other church members, sources said.


A man claiming to be a spokesman for Boko Haram reportedly claimed responsibility for the blast. The two suicide bombers broke through a security barrier at the gate of the church building at 7:20 a.m., a church leader said.


“When the bombs went off, I saw the dead body of one girl and four other members of our church who were injured,” said Yakubu Dutse, director of finance at COCIN headquarters, which is located in the same building.


Dutse said one of the bombers was shot dead and one was injured by soldiers posted as security guards before the bombs went off, killing the second assailant as well.


“When they were stopped at the gate of the church, they refused to stop, hence the soldiers posted to the church shot at the car,” he said.


Church member Felix Apollos rushed to the scene of the attack minutes after the bombs went off; he told Compass that he saw the bodies of five people killed in the attack, but the identities of the dead were yet to be confirmed at press time. At least 38 people were reportedly injured in the blast.


“I saw some Red Cross personnel moving both the dead and the injured into ambulances,” Apollos said. “I saw five dead bodies and about seven injured Christians being moved into vehicles. But then the number of the injured may be higher than this, as there were already some injured that were taken to the hospital before I got here.”


Apollos said members of a security force manning the church gate tried to stop the assailants, but soldiers also guarding the church ordered them to allow the bombers onto the premises.


“Just when the bombers got onto the church premises, they crashed into the church building,” Apollos told Compass.


The COCIN church holds two worship services on Sunday mornings, one at 7 and one at 10. The second service was cancelled, as were most church services throughout Jos.


The car used in the attack was blown to pieces, and seven other cars were also destroyed.
 

Boko Haram, the name given to the Islamic extremist group officially called Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad – “The People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad” – seeks to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on Nigeria. The name Boko Haram translates loosely as “Western education is forbidden.”


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.


Jos, often described as a religious fault line between the north and the south, has been the site of numerous large-scale and isolated incidents of violence containing a religious component.


COCIN is one of the largest evangelical Christian denominations in Nigeria, with a large concentration in northern Nigeria. COCIN was established in Nigeria in 1904 by the Sudan United Mission by the leadership of Dr. Karl Kunn.


A number of COCIN congregations and other churches have come under attack by Boko Haram recently in northern Nigeria. In Borno state last year, the Rev. David Usman of the COCIN church in Maiduguri was murdered by Boko Haram. The denomination’s church buildings in Geidam, Damaturu, and Potiskum, all in Yobe state, also have been bombed.


COCIN church members have also been attacked in Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Local Government Areas of Bauchi state. Early morning attacks in Tafawa Balewa, on Jan. 22 left at least seven Christians dead and a church building destroyed. The attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All Church 2, residents of Tafawa Balewa said, was carried out by area Islamic extremists alongside members of the Boko Haram sect, with the church building and surrounding houses bombed.


Suspected Islamic extremists detonated a bomb outside a church building in Suleja, Niger state, on Feb. 19, two months after Boko Haram Islamists killed 44 Christians and blinded seven in a church bombing in nearby Madalla. The Feb. 19 blast injured at five Christians.



END

Over 3000 Muslims Attack Christian Homes and Shops in Egypt, 3 Injured

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (ANS) -- A mob of over 3000 Muslims have just attacked Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Ameriya), Alexandria, Egypt. Coptic homes and shops were looted before being set ablaze. Two Copts and a Muslim were injured.

Mary Abdelmassih, writing for the Assyrian International News Agency (www.aina.org) said that the violence started after a rumor was spread that a Coptic man had an allegedly intimate photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The Coptic man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, surrendered to the police for his protection.

According to eyewitnesses, the perpetrators were bearded men in white gowns. “They were Salafists, and some of were from The Muslim Brotherhood,” according to one witness. It was reported that terrorized women and children who lost their homes were in the streets without any place to go.

Father Boktor Nashed from St. George's Church in el-Nahdah, said that a meeting between Muslim and Christian representatives was supposed to take place in the evening in Kobry-el-Sharbat. But, by 3 P.M. a Muslim mob looted and torched the home of Mourad Samy Guirgis, as well as the home of his family and three homes of Coptic neighbors. A number of Coptic-owned shops and businesses were also looted and torched.

“We contacted security forces, but they arrived very, very late,” said Father Nashad. The fire brigade was prevented from going into the village by the Muslims and the fires were left to burn themselves out. “Those who lost their home, left the village,” said Father Nashed.

Coptic activist Mariam Ragy, who was covering the violence in Kobry-el-Sharbat, said it took the army 1 hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village. “This happens every time. They wait outside the village until the Muslims have had enough violence, then they appear.” She said that she spoke to many Copts from the village this evening who said that although their homes were not attacked, Muslims stood in the street asking them to come to their homes to hide. “They believed that this was a new trick to make them leave, so that Muslims would loot and torch their homes while they were away,” said Ragy.

Abdelmassih said that the Governor of Alexandria visited al-Nahda, near Kobry-el-Sharbat, this evening and told elYoum 7 newspaper that the two Copts and one Muslim who were injured were transported to hospital. He said that the family of the Muslim girl whose image was on the Copt's mobile phone wanted revenge from the Coptic man. They broke into his home and torched a furniture factory located in the same building.

Joseph Malak, a lawyer for the Coptic Church in Alexandria, said it is too early to count injuries to Copts or losses to their property.

Mr. Mina Girguis, of the Maspero Youth Union in Alexandria, said that “collective punishment of Copts for someone else's mistake, which is yet to be determined, is completely unacceptable.” He believes that the reason for this violence is fabricated, and the military is behind it. “They are trying to divert the attention from the second revolution which is taking place now.”

The Middle East journalist went on to say that Father Nashed denied that Islamists were present, only ordinary village Muslims, and could not give an explanation as why people who have lived together amicably for years could commit such violence. “Maybe because of lack of security, they think that they can do as they please,” he said.

He added that the nearly 65 Coptic families were ordered to stay indoors and not to open their shops and businesses tomorrow. He added that security forces did not arrest any of the perpetrators, “on the contrary, they were begging the mob to go home.”

“By midnight the violence had subsided,” concluded Abdelmassih.

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Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Muslims in Egypt Attack Church, Burn Christian Homes and Shops

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) -- A Muslim mob yesterday (Jan.19) attacked Copts in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar.

Mary Abdelmassih, an Egyptian journalist writing for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) --www.aina.org  -- says no one was reported killed or injured. According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.

AINA reports that an eye-witness said a straw hut belonging to a Coptic Christian was torched to clear the area for a mosque. There are more than 300 mosques in the village and one church.

AINA says that according to Coptic residents, the reason behind the violence was the parliamentary elections. The Salafists wanted to prevent Copts, who number more than 50 percent of the inhabitants (20,000), from voting because they intended to vote for two moderate Muslims and not the Salafi candidates. "No Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly was able to vote today, so the Salafists will win the elections," said a witness. Copts were forcefully prevented from voting.

AINA goes on to say that US-based WAY TV, which covered live yesterday’s Rahmaniya attacks, called commander Osama, head of security at Rahmaniya, who said "everything was OK" -- despite live pictures on TV of the burning homes.

AINA reported that Joseph Nasralla of WAY TV spoke to security and made them aware that the videos of the fires were being broadcast in the U.S. and Middle East, which caused the immediate dispatch of security vehicles. By late evening the violence had stopped.

In another incident yesterday, a large number of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood entered the Abu Makka church, in Bahteem, Shubra-el-Khayma, Qaliubia province, and informed the congregation that the church has no license and no one should pray in it. One Muslim said the 1,300 square meter church would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital.

AINA said Bishop Marcus of Shubra el Khayma was scheduled to inaugurate the incomplete church and celebrate the Epiphany mass in the evening.

However, according to Coptic witnesses the Bishop cancelled the festivities, which angered the congregation, who were not informed of the reason. A witness said the Muslim promised to be back Friday.

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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.

Death Toll Climbs in Islamist Attacks in Nigeria’s Northeast

One of the Nigerians wounded in the church attack in Gombe,
 Jerry Johnson, shot in the legs. (Photo: Compass)

Boko Haram extremists take credit for bloody assaults in three towns.

GOMBE, Nigeria, January 9 (CDN) — The number of Christians killed in an Islamic extremist attack here on Thursday (Jan. 5) has risen to nine, and over the weekend the same terrorist group killed at least 21 Christians in neighboring Adamawa state, sources said.

Members of the Boko Haram group that seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) on Nigeria emerged from a mosque near the Deeper Life Bible Church in the Boso area of Gombe, capital of Gombe state, at about 7:30 p.m. and shot Christians attending a weekly meeting known as “The Hour of Revival,” area sources said.

Silas Ugboeze, who was in coma for three days at the Federal Medical Centre in Gombe, died 20 minutes after Compass arrived on Saturday (Jan. 7), bringing the death toll to nine and the list of those wounded in the attack to 19.

Ugboeze’s son Gideon was also killed, and his 12-year-old daughter, Victoria Silas Ugboeze, was wounded in both breasts. She has thus far survived along with her brother Daniel, who was also shot.

Ugboeze’s widow was overcome with grief at the hospital, able to say only, “Lord, where are you? This burden is too much for me to bear.”

Of the nine killed, five died instantly and four died later at the hospital. About 45 people were present at the service when it was attacked, said the church’s 43-year-old pastor, Sunday Okoli.

The Gombe Deeper Life Bible Church, planted more than 20 year years ago, is adjacent to a mosque built less than two meters from its northern end, and it was from this mosque that the gunmen emerged to attack the church, said Okoli, based on reports he received from those present as he was away at a pastors’ conference in Lagos at the time.

His wife, Chinyere Okoli, said a bullet struck her head but left only a light wound with bruising.

“We had been in the church for about one hour and 30 minutes praying, when suddenly, we heard gunshots and bullets hitting us,” she said. “Oh my God, blood was flowing as our members were shot by the gunmen.”

She reported that the wife of church elder Chenma Ngwaba, Chilver Chenma, and their son, Chinedu Chenma, were both killed. Elder Ngwaba was leading the evening program, at which members customarily share spiritual and physical burdens for prayer purposes and testify to God’s work in their lives.

Others killed were Johnson Jauro, whose two sons were also wounded; Sule Baba Tanko; Godwin Odoh; Menshak  Major; and a member of the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) serving in the church. His name was not immediately known, but leaders of the church were trying to establish his identity.

As Compass visited the emergency and orthopedic wards of the Federal Medical Centre in Gombe, the injured members of the church were in severe pain with varying degrees of injuries.

The attacks marked the second time in less than a month that the Deeper Life Bible Church in Gombe was mourning the killing of one of its members. On Dec. 11, Patrick Ugoji was shot dead by Muslim militants at a gas station, the NNPC Mega Station, while filling his car’s tank.

Many Christians were seen at motorparks boarding vehicles to leave town.

Weekend Killings
Boko Haram had published an ultimatum in a newspaper on Tuesday (Jan. 3) threatening violence if Christians did not leave predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria in three days. Since then, the group has reportedly claimed responsibility for killing at least 44 people in four states.

Christians in Adamawa state came under attack by Boko Haram, which in the Hausa language means “Western education is sacrilege,” over the weekend. On Friday night (Jan. 6), 11 people were killed and many others injured at the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the Nasarawa area of Yola, the state capital.

“There was blood all over the church hall – it was a very sorry sight,” Adamawa journalist Barnabas Manyan told Compass.

Pastor Alfred Anoris of the CAC described how the Islamists attacked the church.

“The gunmen numbering about six stormed the church, killing three people outside the gate, and eight people inside, including Associate Pastor Joshua Olaniyi, while the service was on,” he told newsmen. “The men were dressed in caftans but had their faces covered. They carried out the act with the precision and tact of professional killers. Many people were wounded and are in the hospital.”

Earlier on Friday, 12 persons were reportedly killed when armed men claimed by Boko Haram shot a gathering of Christian traders holding a prayer session before opening their shops in Mubi, Adamawa. The gunmen also shot at another group of Christians meeting at a town hall to arrange for the transportation of relatives slain the previous day, bringing the total of those killed in Mubi to 21.

Also on Saturday (Jan. 7), Boko Haram members reportedly killed two Christian students of the University of Maiduguri, in Maiduguri, Borno state.

The public relations officer of the State Police  Command, Altine  Daniel, confirmed the incidents  and told  newsmen that  there was a  bomb explosion at a Deeper Life Church in Mubi, but that no one was injured.

Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said Christian leaders had decided to “work out means to defend ourselves against these senseless killings.”

“We have the legitimate right to defend ourselves,” he said. “We will do whatever it takes.”

END

Nigeria: Boko Haram threatens Christians

-- the battle for Nigeria heats up

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 140 
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Boko Haram -- also known as the 'Nigerian Taliban' -- was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's most north-eastern state, Borno. The group demands the complete Islamisation of all Nigeria. After their leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, died in police custody on 31 July 2009, Boko Haram declared jihad on the state. In June 2010 Boko Haram formalised its ties with al-Qaeda which has long sought strategic depth in sub-Saharan Africa and a foothold in Nigeria. Since then, Boko Haram has been sending militants to Somalia for military training under al-Shabaab and escalating, intensifying and expanding its terror campaign. 

Vowing to render Nigeria 'ungovernable', Boko Haram targets anything that does not support its fundamentalist Islamist ends and jihadist means: universities, police, secular courts, Christian churches and even liberal mosques. On 16 June 2011 Boko Haram perpetrated Nigeria's first ever suicide bombing, killing eight and wounding dozens at Police Headquarters in the federal capital, Abuja. In August they followed that up with a suicide bombing at the UN headquarters in Abuja, killing 25. Throughout 2011, citizens have been fleeing Borno in large numbers to escape the gun battles, assassinations and terrorism that have become a near-constant phenomenon there. Despite all this, the Nigerian government has been reluctant to treat the threat seriously. While the federal government has been equivocating, Boko Haram's projection of strength has been winning it popular support from radicalised Muslims amongst the masses and in the military. (Background, see Religious Liberty Monitoring: The Boko Haram Threat.)

On Christmas Day 2011 Boko Haram bombed two churches: one on the outskirts of the federal capital Abuja and one in the volatile Middle-belt city of Jos. The car bomb that exploded in the car park of St Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State, just 29km from Abuja, was massive. At least 42 were killed, most incinerated by the massive fireball that consumed 17 vehicles. Dozens were seriously wounded. About the same time, a suicide bomber attacked the Yobe State Command Headquarters of the Department of State Security Services (SSS) in Damaturu, killing three. Nigeria's President, Goodluck Jonathan, was subsequently slammed for his lame response quoted in Vanguard 25 Dec 2011: 'The issue of bombing is one of the burdens we must live with,' he said. 'It will not last forever.' (Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had the same lame response to the unconstitutional implementation of Sharia law across the north.) On Friday 30 December four Muslims died in Maiduguri when a bomb planted by Boko Haram exploded outside their mosque after Friday prayers. By the next day, President Jonathan had closed Nigeria's borders with Chad and Niger Republic and declared a state of emergency in 15 hard-hit local government areas of Borno, Yobe, Plateau and Niger states, sending tanks and soldiers to patrol the streets.

Boko Haram has responded to the state of emergency by upping the ante. On Monday 2 January 2012 Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa issued a statement that southern Christians living in the north -- particularly those in the north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe -- had three days to leave or face further violence. Boko Haram says it is prepared to confront the Nigerian military, which it claims is only interested in killing innocent Muslims. Many believe Boko Haram is keen to trigger a religious civil war that would attract international jihadists who themselves have a strategic interest in Nigeria.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT --

* churches and individual Christians across Nigeria will respond with radical faith: not as the world does, by putting faith in weapons, money or might, but by crying with one voice to the LORD who gives strength and wisdom and deliverance (Psalm 34). 'Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death' (Psalm 68:20 ESV). 'It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes' (Psalm 118:9 ESV).

* God will intervene in Nigeria to end the terror, expose the falsehood of Islam and deliver his people from evil. May the wicked who plot evil against the Church be snared in the work of their own hands (Psalm 9:15,16) and repent and turn to the LORD; may God be glorified (Galatians 1:23,24).

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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NIGERIA: BOKO HARAM THREATENS CHRISTIANS

Since formally linking with al-Qaeda in June 2010, the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has intensified and expanded its jihad against the state, vowing to render Nigeria 'ungovernable'. Christians have been hit hard. On Christmas Day 2011 a massive car bomb exploded outside St Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State, just 29km from the federal capital Abuja. At least 42 were killed, most incinerated by the massive fireball that consumed 17 vehicles. A state of emergency has been declared with tanks and troops now patrolling 15 of the most hard-hit local government areas. Boko Haram responded by giving southerners and Christians three days to leave the north or face more violence. The battle for Nigeria has begun -- please pray for Christians, the Church and the nation.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. This prayer bulletin was initially written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC). Elizabeth Kendal's blogs: Religious Liberty Monitoring and Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

International campaign in support of arrested children of AOG church of Ahwaz

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

AHWAZ, IRAN (ANS) -- The brutal attack on the Assemblies of God (AOG) church of Ahwaz on December 23, 2011, seems to have psychologically affected the children who were arrested in a harsh manner by security authorities. In this connection, Iranian and non-Iranian Christians and churches are invited to reassure these children by sending cards of encouragement.

Illustration by Mohabat News

According to the Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News (http://mohabatnews.com), following the attack by security authorities on the AOG church of Ahwaz at Christmas, the Hamgam Council of Iranian Churches is inviting all Iranian and foreign churches to send cards of encouragement to the children who were mentally affected during the raid.

“Based on earlier reports received, the security authorities had their faces covered and treated the Sunday school children of the church badly as they arrested them. This frightening ordeal deeply affected these children's minds,” said a spokesperson for Mohabat News.

According to Article 14 of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child concerning freedom of thought and religion, “Governments should honor the freedom of thought and religion of children and the right of the parents to provide direction to their own child.”

The news agency told the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net) that "The Islamic Republic of Iran adopted the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and is obliged to apply its provisions in Iran. Seventeen years have passed since acceptance of this convention and the Iranian regime should explain why they treat children, who were present with their parents at a religious place, like criminals and take them to security centers and jails that were intended for criminals?!

“The Hamgam Council of Iranian Churches is inviting all Iranian and foreign churches to send cards of encouragement to the children who were mentally affected during the raid.”

It added, “The children in the Sunday schools of other churches are also called to take part in this campaign and demonstrate their solidarity with the children who were prevented from celebrating our Savior’s birth.”

The cards of encouragement can be sent to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) at the address below where the cards will be forwarded to the affected children.

“Let's hope these cards will help wipe this bitter experience from the minds of the children of the AOG church of Ahwaz,” concluded the news agency.

Address to send the cards:

Christian Solidarity Worldwide
P.O. Box 99,
New Malden,
Surrey KT3 3YF
UK

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Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Muslim Extremists in Uganda Throw Acid on Bishop

Muslim extremists threw acid on Bishop Umar
 Mulinde outside his church near Kampala.
{Photo: Compass Direct)

Burns threaten eyesight of church leader who opposed Islamic courts.

KAMPALA, Uganda, December 28 (CDN) — Islamic extremists threw acid on a church leader on Christmas Eve shortly after a seven-day revival at his church, leaving him with severe burns that have blinded one eye and threaten sight in the other.


Bishop Umar Mulinde, 37, a sheikh (Islamic teacher) before his conversion to Christianity, was attacked on Saturday night (Dec. 24) outside his Gospel Life Church International building in Namasuba, about 10 kilometers (six miles) outside of Kampala. From his hospital bed in Kampala, he told Compass that he was on his way back to the site for a party with the entire congregation and hundreds of new converts to Christianity when a man who claimed to be a Christian approached him.


“I heard him say in a loud voice, ‘Pastor, pastor,’ and as I made a turn and looked at him, he poured the liquid onto my face as others poured more liquid on my back and then fled away shouting, ‘Allahu akbar[God is greater],’” Mulinde said, still visibly traumatized two days after the assault.


A neighbor and church members rushed him to a hospital in the Mengo area of Kampala, and he was then transferred to International Hospital Kampala.


“I have to continue fighting this pain – it is too much,” Mulinde said. “My entire body is in pain. Most of the night I miss sleep.”


His face, neck and arms bore deep black scars from the acid, and his lips were swollen.


“The burn caused by the acid is so severe that there is an urgent need for specialized treatment,” said area Christian Musa Baluku Symutsangira. “I suggest that he be flown outside the country as soon as possible; otherwise Mulinde might lose both of his eyes, coupled with the spread of the burns. The burns seemed to spread and go very deep. He might need some plastic surgery.”


A doctor told Compass that acid burns cover about 30 percent of his face and has cost him sight in one eye.


“We are doing all we can to save his other remaining eye and to contain the acid from spreading to other parts of the body,” the doctor said.


Mulinde’s shirt, tie and suit were in tatters after the attack.


Mulinde said his father, Id Wasswa, was a local prayer leader or imam.


“I was born into a Muslim family, and although I decided to become a Christian, I have been financially assisting many Muslims, as well as my relatives who are Muslims,” he said. “I have been conducting a peaceful evangelism campaign.”


Mulinde said Muslim extremists opposed to his conversion from Islam and his outspoken opposition ofsharia (Islamic law) courts in Uganda, known in East Africa as Kadhi courts, attacked him. On Oct. 15, area Muslim leaders declared a fatwa against him demanding his death.


“I have been receiving several threats for a long time, and this last one is the worst of all,” Mulinde said. “I have bore the marks of Jesus.”


Mulinde is known for debates locally and internationally in which he often challenges Muslims regarding their religion. His extensive knowledge and quotation of the Quran in his preaching has won him enemies and friends. Often criticizing Islam, he has relied on police protection during revival campaigns throughout Uganda.


“Mulinde poses a big threat to those who cannot take the challenge as he engages the Muslims in debate,” said Dr. Joseph Serwadda, an area church leader.


A church guard who was away on the day of the attack said he felt responsible.


“I feel bad,” he said. “I feel I have failed in my duty as a guard.”


Mulinde is married and has six children ages 14, 12, 8, 6 and twins who are 3.


Police have reportedly arrested one suspect, whom they have declined to name. A divisional commander at Katwa police station identified only as Kateebe would say only that an investigation was underway.


The hospital charges 350,000 Uganda shillings (US$140 dollars) per day, a steep amount in Uganda.


“We appeal for our brothers and sisters wherever they are to assist the life of Bishop Umar Mulinde,” said Symutsangira.


Several Attacks
Mulinde, who lives and pastors in Namasuba outside of Kampala, in April led religious leaders in petitioning the Ugandan Parliament to refrain from amending the constitution to introduce Kadhi courts.


He collected 360,000 signatures from former Muslims who have converted to Christianity, he said, and managed to temporarily stop parliament from proposing the constitutional change. When Compass met with Mulinde in November, however, he said there was new momentum to revive the Kadhi courts issue.


In May he was attacked by suspected Muslim extremists after a series of campaigns against Kadhi courts in Namasuba. After presenting his case against the Kadhi courts, he narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt when his vehicle was blocked at eight kilometers (five miles) outside of Kampala at Ndege, two kilometers from his home in Namasuba. Muslim extremists jumped out of the vehicle and shot at the fleeing Mulinde but missed him. He reported the case at the Katwa police station.


Mulinde has faced several injuries and attacks from Muslims since his conversion to Christianity in 1993, including having stones thrown at him after debates in 1998 and 2002.


After Kenya maintained Kadhi courts in its new constitution last year, the attorney general of Uganda wanted to insert Kadhi courts – which presumably would deal only with marriage and family issues for Muslims – into the Ugandan constitution. But Mulinde argued that there would be two judicial systems governing one country.


“If Muslims who convert to Christianity are facing persecution from the Muslims now, then what will be their fate when the Kadhi courts are entrenched in the constitution?” he said.


When Mulinde converted from Islam to Christianity, his family drove him away with clubs and machetes. Since then, he has suffered numerous life-threatening attacks. In 1995 at Mbiji, he was attacked with clubs but managed to escape. In 1998 he was attacked at Kangulomila near Jinja town. In 2000 in Masaka, Muslims bribed the area district commissioner to declare Mulinde’s meetings illegal; Muslims stormed into one of the meetings and dragged him out, beating him till he lost consciousness. Police saved him.


In 2001 in Busia, while addressing another meeting, a Muslim extremist narrowly missed killing him with a sword. In 1994, he survived a gun attack at Natete, near Kampala, when a bullet narrowly missed him. He said that as he fell into muddy waters, his Muslim attackers, thinking they had killed him, said, “Allah akbar.”


Because of the threats against him – in October Muslim extremists sent him text messages threatening to assassinate him – Mulinde had relocated to another area in Uganda.


He has vowed to continue fighting for the rights of the former Muslims haunted by radical Islamists.



END

Five Christians Slain in Another Assault in Kaduna, Nigeria

The corpses of three of the five Christians
 killed by local Islamists and Muslim Fulani
 herdsmen in Ungwan Rami, Nigeria. (photo: Compass)

Two others killed in Muslim attack on another village last month.

UNGWAN RAMI, Nigeria, December 23 (CDN) — Local Islamists and Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked a Christian community in Kaduna state on Monday (Dec. 19), killing five people and wounding six, area sources said, just nine days after a deadly attack on a Christian community in Kukum Gida in the same local government area.


The Muslim assailants, brandishing firearms and machetes, attacked Christians in Ungwan Rami village of Kaura Local Government Area at 10 p.m. in a manner consistent with other religiously motivated assaults in the state, which saw Christians killed last month as well, the sources said.


Ungwan Rami resident Kumai Yanet told Compass that local Muslims and some Muslim Fulani herdsmen first attacked Christians stationed to keep watch over the village.


“These Muslims attacked our community members who had assembled in the house of my elder brother, Zakka Yanet,” Yanet said. “A few minutes later, they attacked my house, which is near my brother’s house. None in my house was hit by a bullet, but as you can see, there are bullet holes all over my house.”


Ungwan Rami, with about 800 residents who are all Christians, has four church denominations: Roman Catholic, Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), and Cherubim and Seraphim. The five Christians killed were members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, as are those who were injured. The wounded, including a 3-year-old  girl cut with a machete, were being treated at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos, Plateau state.


The five Christians killed were Matthew Yusuf, 28; Joseph John, 30; Innocent Abba, 33; Mathias John, 35; and Didam Zakka, 19. Those injured were Linda Emmanuel, 3; Emmanuel Zakka, 28; Gabriel Zakka, 20; Deborah Emmanuel, 19; Dominic Daniel, 25; and Gideon Anthony, 30.


Catholic priests from the archdiocese of Kaduna held funeral service for those killed on Wednesday (Dec. 21) in Ungwan Rami.


The Rev. Francis Dauda Nni told those gathered not to despair in the face of the onslaught, as God predestined them to shed blood to help build the Kingdom of Christ, and their sacrifice was not in vain.


“The death of these five is a sacrifice and a blessing to us,” he said. “Know this, the death of a martyr is a blessing to God’s people.”


He urged Christians in the community never to contemplate vengeance for the attack.


“No one amongst you should think of avenging the attack on you, because when we avenge there would be no end to the crisis in this country,” Nni said. “Therefore, depend on God, for He is the only one who can protect you and avenge for you.”


He said the Nigerian government is neglecting protection for Christians in such remote areas.


“There is the need for me to call the attention of the Nigerian government to the fact that security is being provided in cities and towns to ward off attacks, but the rural areas and villages are being left unprotected,” he said. “The government should ensure that security agencies are well equipped to patrol the villages too, so that the killing of innocent Christian villagers would end.”


The Rev. Richard Angolia, parish priest of St. Joseph’s, expressed sadness that within a span of two weeks, two attacks have been carried out against two Christian communities in the area, resulting in six deaths and eight injured Christians; on Dec. 10, a Muslim villager in Kukum Gida allegedly helped Muslim Fulani herdsmen attack the village, killing 50-year-old Kunam Musa Blak (see “Christian Woman Killed in Nigeria’s Kaduna State,” Dec. 20).


Florence Aya, chairperson of the Interim Management Committee of Kaura Local Government Council, told Compass that those attacked in Ungwan Rami included “a pregnant woman and a 3-year-old girl. The girl was cut with a machete.”


Aya said those killed had gathered to patrol and keep watch over their village as a result of attacks on Christian communities in the area.


“They were not aware that already the attackers had hidden themselves in bushes around the village,” she said.


During the funeral service, Aya said the attack was unprovoked, with the victims having committed no crimes except being Christian.


“I urge you all, my brethren, to have faith in Christ Jesus,” she said. ‘God will avenge these killings for us. Security is in the hands of God, so, if we depend on him, He will protect us.”


Kaduna Under Siege
The state has suffered a rash of attacks in recent months. On Nov. 10, Muslim Fulani herdsmen assaulted another Christian village, Apiokashi, in the Jema’a Local Government Area, killing village leader Bulus Adamu, 40, and his wife, Ladi Bulus.


Apiokashi village has about 300 Christians, all of them members of either the local ECWA church or the Catholic church.


Obadiah Adamu, 16, oldest of the eight children the slain couple leaves behind, told Compass that the Muslims sneaked into the village at night. His sister, Asabe Bulus, said that the family was asleep when the Muslim Fulani herdsmen arrived.


“They stoned the windows of our rooms,” she said. “Our dad went out to find out who was stoning the windows, and then he was shot. The sound of the gunshots forced our mother to run out of her room to find out what was going on, only for her too to be killed.”


A young Christian man in the village, Samson Joshua, sustained injuries when he was shot by the attackers, source said.


Ayuba Simon, 42, acting village head, told Compass that the Muslim Fulani herdsmen again invaded the village on Dec. 15, but villagers keeping watch repelled them.


“We know these Muslims who have been attacking us – they also do so in company of Fulani herdsmen, and they currently reside at Dangoma village, a Muslim settlement about seven kilometers south of our village,” Simon said. “Security agencies know this, but they have not done anything to arrest them.”


Asabe Bulus said the Nigerian government must find ways to stem the assaults.


“As Christians, we have been living peacefully with these Muslims, but we do not understand why they should now attack us,” she said.


Explosion
With these attacks on Christian communities, Christians in Kaduna are increasingly restless as dozens have been killed and hundreds displaced in recent months.


After an explosion in Kaduna city on Nov. 7, Chukwuma Nwaejiaka, a 32-year-old Christian and member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, said he thought the world had come to and end.


The businessman stood and watched as his warehouse went up in flames after it was bombed alongside shops owned by his fellow Christians, he said.


“I saw people being rescued out of the destroyed buildings,” he said. “Some of them had burns all over their bodies. There were dead bodies that littered the place, and everywhere was burning.”


A young Christian man identified only as Onyeka had plans to get married a week before he died in the blast, Nwaejiaka said.


Nine people lay dead when rescue workers ended their rescue operations – members of Roman Catholic, Anglican and Living Faith Church congregations. At press time the death toll from the blast had risen to 16 persons, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.


“No one sold gas in this building complex, so the claim by the police that the explosion was caused by gas is false,” Nwaejiaka said. “I think the police are making this claim just to calm frayed nerves over the unending bombings going on in the country that have left the police helpless.”


Peter Ozoemena, a Christian with a shop fewer than 50 meters from the bombed shops, said the nine shops with 15 apartments attached to them were affected.


“The shops were bombed when two men came on a motorbike and parked in front of the shops,” he said. “One of the men whom we believe was a Muslim extremist, probably a member of Boko Haram, went to speak to one of three Christian teenagers. A few minutes later, the Muslim suddenly bolted, and then a loud explosion occurred. One of these two Muslims had the bomb concealed in a carton. It exploded and killed the bearer of the carton, while the second was injured.”


In the midst of the commotion that followed, colleagues of the injured Muslim whisked him away, he said.


Ozoemena said his wife, Peace Ozoemena, was walking towards the building at the time of the explosion.


“She was thrown away by the impact of the bomb,” he said. “We were all shaken by the attack. Fire was burning all over those buildings, and the entire place was pulled down.”


He was bitter that police would misinform the public about the cause of the explosion.


“We are not happy about the lies the police commissioner has been telling the people,” he said. “How can they say that the explosion was caused by gas when no traders sell gas in these shops?”


Ismail Muhammad, 30, a Muslim phone card seller who owns a shop near the bombed Christian shops, told Compass that he saw eight bodies of Christians who were killed.


“A Christian woman who is a street sweeper was injured in the attack,” he added. “She had a baby strapped on her back, so both were critically injured and were taken to Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital here in Kaduna.”


A female Muslim student lived in one of the homes behind the shops, he said.


“Her name is Khadijat, she is a student of the Kaduna Polytechnic, she was trapped in the house and she died too,” Muhammad said, adding that a teenage Muslim boy named Abdulateef also died and a Muslim named Suleiman was injured. He also refuted police claims that the explosion was due to ignited gas canisters.


“How can police make such claims when there was no gas sold here?” he said. “In fact, what I saw are small refill-canisters of car air-conditioner. These canisters cannot cause this kind of destruction even if they explode.”


The bombing of these Christian-owned shops came on the heels of similar bombings of businesses and church buildings in Yobe state.


Leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have called on the Nigerian government to confront the growing terrorism. CAN President Ayo Oritsejafor urged police in Nigeria to properly investigate the explosion instead of spreading false information to the public.


CAN also urged Nigerian security agencies to put aside religious bias in order to end the destabilization of the country.

END

Christian Woman Killed in Nigeria’s Kaduna State

Grave of Kunam Musa Blak, shot to death
 outside outside of her home in Nigeria’s Kaduna
 state. 

(Photo: Compass)

Suspected Muslim gunmen shoot her, her husband and his cousin.

KAGORO, Nigeria, December 20 (CDN) — A Muslim villager in Kaduna state allegedly helped Fulani herdsmen and other Muslims from nearby Kafanchan to ambush a Christian settlement, resulting in the death of one woman and gunshot wounds to two other Christians on Dec. 10, area sources said.


Musa Blak, 60, told Compass how gunmen lurking behind trees outside his home killed his wife, Kunam Musa Blak, and wounded him and his cousin, 48-year-old Monday Blai Yayok, after a schoolteacher in Kukum Gida village allegedly helped Muslims survey the site. Kunam Musa Blak was 50.


In the Jankassa ward of Kukum Gida village, a Christian settlement of 425 people who all attend the local Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Musa Blak and his family were asleep when they were awakened by the sound of barking dogs at 11:45 p.m., he said.


“I decided to go outside and find out what was happening,” Blak said. “While outside, I noticed a dark figure standing behind some cactus trees near my house. I neither moved nor said anything, but kept watching to see what this figure would do.”


Hidden behind the trees were Muslim gunmen who had taken positions around the village with the intent of ambushing villagers, he said.


“A few minutes afterwards, the figure moved away quietly, and at this point my wife too came out of the room and met me outside, asking whether I had found anything,” he said. “I then told her about the figure I saw that moved away.”


As he spoke to her, suddenly he heard a gunshot and saw his wife go down.


“I heard the sound of a gunshot, and suddenly I heard my wife crying as she fell to the ground. I tried reaching to hold her when I too was hit by a bullet,” Blak said. “I still struggled by crawling to the place my wife was lying on the ground and held her in my arms even as I was bleeding.”


Awakened villagers trooped out of their houses, he said, and as his cousin, Yayok, stepped out of Blak’s house, he also was shot.


With other villagers streaming out and soldiers stationed at nearby Kagoro, the assailants must have sensed that it would be difficult to overrun the village and withdrew, he said; by the time military personnel received information about the invasion and rushed over, the gunmen had left.


The soldiers transported him, his cousin and his wife’s body to Kafanchan General Hospital, and then Blak and Yayok were referred to Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos; there Musa had his bullet wounds treated, and Yayok underwent surgery on Dec. 12.


“We believe that Muslim Fulani herdsmen who once lived near our village, with the support of Muslims from Kafanchan, were the ones who attacked us,” Blak said.


Jonah Bayina, the 43-year-old head of the village ward, identified the Muslim schoolteacher suspected of helping to lead the gunmen to the site in Kaduna state, which has been wracked by several attacks on Christians the past few months.


“Isa Damu, a Fulani Muslim who teaches in one public school here, is the one who led his fellow Muslims to attack us,” Bayina told Compass. “On Tuesday, Dec. 6, he brought some Muslims to the village, and they stayed with him until they left on Friday, Dec. 9, and then they launched the attack on us the following day. We believe he brought the Muslims to enable them to survey our village before attacking us.”


Damu disappeared on the night of the attack, and he has not been seen since, he said.


“His head teacher phoned him, and they spoke, but Damu refused to disclose where he was, nor gave any reasons for absconding from his teaching post,” Bayina said.


A member of ECWA church in Kukum Gida, Bayina said this was the first attack on the Christian settlement, which lies a the bottom of a cliff face rising 50 meters, less than two kilometers from the Kagoro ECWA Theological Seminary.


“Even though this is the first attack on our community, we are now living in fear and uncertainty as regards our safety,” he said. “The incident has now forced us to keep watch over the village at night, as even a day after the attack, that is, on the night of Sunday, Dec. 11, the attackers returned again to attack us, but through resilience and courage and with the help of soldiers who rushed in from Kagoro, we were able to repel the Muslim attackers.”


Blak said that in spite of the murder of his wife, he has been praying for the assailants.


“I have been praying that these Muslims who attack us come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior, too,” he said. “I have forgiven them, because I know they do not know what they are doing.”


He urged Christians to pray for those persecuting them.


“Jesus Christ also did the same while on the cross,” he said.



END 

Somali Muslims in Kenya Attack Another Christian

Islamist gang intercepts brother of ‘convert,’ beats him unconscious.

By Simba Tian

 

NAIROBI, Kenya, December 13 (Compass Direct News) – Young Muslim men of Somali descent beat a 23-year-old Somali Christian unconscious last week in Kenya, less than six weeks after a related gang attacked his older brother.

 

Ibrahim, 23, whose surname is withheld for security reasons, was beaten by seven Somalis born in Kenya who stopped him near his home in an undisclosed town at about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 5, he told Compass. His family was presumably Muslim when he was born, so the gang beat him as an “apostate” even though he later had been raised as a Christian, his family said.

 

He had gone out to buy food for the family, but heavy rains delayed his return. When Ibrahim refused to heed their orders to stop, they began to rough him up, and he heard one of the assailants say, “This is one of the guys we have been looking for, and today we have found him – we did not succeed in killing your brother, but today we are going to kill you.”

 

The young men began hitting him from every side, he said.

 

“A blunt object hit my knee, and immediately I fell down,” he said. “There were several blows that injured my left eye. While on the ground the gang continued hitting me on my head as well as my leg. From that time on I did not know what happened next. I only remember shouting and crying for help. Later I found myself at our house with the rest of the family members.”

 

Area residents were able to stop the beating and took him home, he later learned.

 

When Compass met with him two days after the attack, a knee injury on one leg and bruises and swelling on the other kept him from walking. His left eye looked red, and he said he could not see well.

 

“I feel dizzy, and my memory has been affected,” he said. “I cannot turn my head; the pain all over my body is numbing.”

 

On Oct. 27 a related gang attacked Ibrahim’s brother, 25-year-old Hassan, as they had learned that the entire family had become Christian (See www.compassdirect.org, “Somali Muslims Cut, Beat Christian Unconscious in Kenya,” Nov. 4). Police arrested two of the attackers, but they were released without charges after allegedly accepting a bribe of 10,000 Kenyan shillings (US$110), according to the young men’s mother.

 

The Christian woman, whose name is withheld for security reasons, said police reported that the two suspects escaped from custody.

 

“We have information that the two who are alleged to have escaped from prison are in Nyeri,” a town in central Kenya near Mt. Kenya about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Nairobi, she said.

 

The Somali neighbors in Kenya who had attacked Hassan left him for dead, bleeding and naked, Like his younger brother, Hassan had been returning home from running errands when six young Muslim men hit him with a metal bar on his forehead and face, he said; he lost two teeth. They also wounded his hands with a knife. The attackers stripped him of his clothes as he bled and dragged him away, dumping him at the entrance of an area Presbyterian Church of East Africa.

 

The young men’s mother, saddened and shaken, said she was reluctant to report the latest assault after the release of the two men arrested in connection with the attack on her oldest son.

 

“I feel it will be a waste of time, because those who attacked Hassan were released without being charged in court,” she said.

 

The latest incident comes in the wake of similar attacks on Somalis who have embraced Christ and have fled radical Islamists who do not hesitate to execute those who abandon the Islamic religion.

 

Ibrahim said he was able to identify two of the Muslims who beat him, Kenya-born Somali neighbors known as Abdi Kodana and Mohammed Kodana. The leader of the gang, he said, was Omar Kadi, also a Kenya-born Somali.

 

The young men’s mother said she is seeking a safer place to move the family. The sole breadwinner for the family, she fled Somalia 10 years ago after the death of her husband. She has five other sons and two daughters.

 

The widow and her family are part of a church that meets secretly in a home, but neighborhood Muslims have gradually surmised that they are Christians as they do not attend a mosque.

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

**********

Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News

Muslims in Pakistan Beat, Shoot at Christians in Land Grab

Police help cohorts of retired military official in seizure of Christian’s property; two women assaulted.

By Murad Khan

 

LAHORE, Pakistan, December 1 (Compass Direct News) – In an attempted land-grab in southern Punjab Province, police and cohorts of a retired military official beat two Christian women and shot at Christians who came to help them on Friday (Nov. 25), area Christians told Compass.

 

About eight police officials led by Sub-Inspector Muhammad Arif of Kot Sarwar Shaheed police station, along with armed associates of a retired senior military officer, Air Marshal Maqbool Shah, arrived at the fields of Nazeer Masih in the Kot Addu area and ordered the six or seven women working there to leave, said area Christian rights advocate Waseem Shakir. The women included Nazeer’s wife, Martha Bibi, and daughter-in-law, Nasreen Bibi.

 

The men told the workers that they had come to take possession of the 12.5 acres that Nazeer Masih owns in Mauza Sadiqabad area of Muzaffargarh district, which they claimed had now been allotted by the Revenue Department to the Pakistan Army for distribution among retired officials.

 

Martha Bibi told Compass the women were still in shock.

 

“We were cultivating chickpeas when the Muslims arrived at our fields,” she said. “They asked us to leave everything and never return because it was their land now. [We said] we have been cultivating the land since 1976, how could we just leave? This angered them, and they attacked us. They pulled away our headscarves from our heads and started hitting us indiscriminately with clubs and punches.”

 

About 800 Christians have lived in the Mauza Sadiqabad and Mauza Azizabad areas of Muzaffargarh district for the last 50 years, rights advocate Shakir told Compass by phone.

 

“The Christians are settled on 10,000 acres of land which they made cultivable over the years,” he said. “The land is actually owned by the government, but the Christians have been given ownership of the properties, and the record to this effect is present with the local revenue department.”

 

In the last few years Muslims have made several attempts to seize the land from the Christians, usually succeeding because Christians are a marginalized minority, while Muslims carry out illegal activities with impunity and official blessing, Shakir said. A similar attempt to take possession of Nazeer Masih’s land was made last year, resulting in a pending case in the Lahore High Court.

 

This time, Shakir said, the “land mafia” attempting to take the property was led by a senior military official.

 

“Martha, around 40, and Nasreen, about 28, refused to leave the land, which infuriated the Muslims, and they attacked the women, hitting them with batons and punches,” Shakir said. “The Muslims also inflicted a very serious wound near Nasreen’s left eye.”

 

He said that on seeing the commotion, some Christians working in nearby fields ran to rescue the two women, but the land-grabbers began shooting at them. No one was injured, and the assailants left with a warning that they would return, Shakir said.

 

He added that Nazeer’s family has been cultivating the land since 1976 and possessed legal documentation recorded with the revenue department.

 

“It is quite clear that Shah has used his influence and money to illegally get Nazeer’s property transferred in his name,” Shakir said. “How is it otherwise possible that any person can just come and lay claim on the land, which is already in the possession of someone for the last many years? Everyone is involved in this mafia, which is specifically targeting Christians.”

 

Area Christians had worked hard to make the land cultivable, as it used to be barren before the government settled them there, he said.

 

“Can the Punjab government justify this methodical injustice against the Christians of this area?” Shakir said. “The Muslims are grabbing any piece of land they can get their hands on. They haven’t even spared our graveyards.”

 

Muslim land-grabbers had demolished 150 Christian graves and desecrated holy relics to build shops in the Kot Addu area in November 2010, their efforts fully supported by local government officials (see www.compassdirect.org, “Pakistani Officials Back Muslim Land-Grabbers, Christians Say,” March 9).

 

Shakir said that five days after the incident and repeated appeals to the Punjab government, officials had taken no action against police for the violence done to the Christian women, much less investigating the attempted land seizure.

 

“The government doesn’t care at all,” he said. “Deeply frustrated at the treatment being given to us, we blocked the road for some time in protest. It was then that the area’s deputy superintendent of police, Asadullah Khan, assured us that he would request the district police officer to probe the matter himself, because the people involved in this matter were beyond his authority. The assurance is turning out to be eyewash yet again, as there has been no progress in this regard.”

 

Khan declined to comment on the case. He referred Compass to the district police officer, who was unavailable for comment.

 

Gulzar Masih, headman of the area, told Compass that Muslims had also set fire to the house of a Christian man named Jalal Masih a year ago in an attempt to grab his property.

 

“We knocked on every possible door, but the local government remained indifferent to the situation,” he said. “Even though we somehow managed to get the chief minister to mark our application for registration of a case against the arsonists, the police refused to listen to us and threatened us with dire consequences if we did not stop pursuing the matter. The Muslims eventually grabbed Jalal Masih’s property.”

 

Gulzar Masih said that the entire revenue department was involved in tampering with property documents of Christians to render them landless.

 

“It is economic persecution of Christians of the area,” he said. “The government must intervene before it’s too late.”

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

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Copyright 2011 Compass Direct News