Survivors of an Islamist attack in Kaduna State, Nigeria say that at least 46 people have been killed including two pastors.
Church leaders say the Islamists stated their goal was to “cleanse” the area of any Christians.
The two pastors were killed along with 31 other Christian s in Karshin Daji. The attack left 15 injured and at least 15 homes of Christians burned to the ground. The slain pastors were Pastor Ezra Ibrahim of the Evangelical Church Winning All and Pastor Julius Jako of ECWA who was butchered beside his wife and daughter.
Danjuma Awe, 60, was one of the survivors of the assault.
“Suddenly we heard sounds of gunshots around our village,” Awe said. “The pastor was still in the pastorate when the Muslim Fulani gunmen forced their way onto the church premises. They cut him, his wife, and a daughter with a machete, and then tied the hands and feet of the three of them before setting the house on fire. The three of them were burned to ashes in the living room of the pastorate. We only found the charred remains of the three of them the following morning.”
Residents say the Nigerian authorities did nothing to stop the Islamists from their assault.
An Islamic extremist who attacked a Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium has been charged with “murder in a terrorist context” by Belgian authorities.
29-year-old Medhi Nemmouche was arrested in France on May 30th and extradited to Belgium to stand trial. He had fought the extradition claiming that because two of the victims of the shooting were Israeli, Belgium would give him to the Israeli authorities rather than trying him.
Nemmouche entered a Jewish museum on May 24th with an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun. He killed two Israeli tourists and two museum staffers while wounding multiple others. He then fled before police could arrive on the scene.
The gunman had tried to film the attack but the camera malfunctioned during the assault. However, a voice on the video prior to the malfunction was definitively tied to Nemmouche.
Nemmouche had flown to Syria in 2012 to fight with Islamic extremists against the Syrian government before returning to Europe.
The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has made another deadly attack on a Christian church in Nigeria.
The terrorists bombed Saint Charles Catholic Church in Kano, Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least 5 people and wounding 8 others. The bombing happened shortly after the ending of Sunday mass as the crowd was beginning to leave the building. Police estimate the weapon was an IED thrown from across the road.
The attack was one of two attempted in Kano on Sunday. A woman wearing a homicide bomb vest was surrounded and isolated by police, detonating her device where she could not cause damage. Five officers were slightly wounded when she detonated the device.
In a surprising show of support to the Christian community of Kano, Muslim officials cancelled the city’s celebrating of the Eid festival marking the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan.
Government officials say that Boko Haram has started receiving weapons and training from other al-Qaeda related groups like Al-Shabab in Somalia.
A woman wearing a Burger King uniform shirt verbally and physically assaulted members of the pro-life organization Created Equal who were conducting an awareness event in Columbus, Ohio.
Victoria Duran was caught on video physically attacking a teenage boy who was an intern of the Created Equal group. She also used profanity filled rants and kicked down signs that were erected showing the development of a baby at 12 weeks.
“We understand the risk we take each time we go into the marketplace of ideas with a message as counter-cultural as showing the victims of abortion,” Created Equal Executive Director Mark Harrington told LifeNews, adding that “despite the threat we will not shrink back from representing the victims.”
Police arrived on the scene and removed Duran from a public bus to talk; she held out her arms telling the police “take me.”
Duran was questioned by a reporter from KSYX-TV who said she assaulted the pro-life group members and Duran responded by saying shoving them was not assault.
Police disagree and have charged Duran with assault and criminal damaging.
Islamic extremists attacked a church in the Central African Republic Monday, killing at least 17 and leaving dozens wounded.
Reverend Thibault Ndemaguia told the Associated Press the attackers came at St. Joseph Cathedral of Bambari because a Muslim youth had been killed in the area and they were claiming a Christian did the killing.
A statement from the Seleka Muslim militia appears to back the pastor’s view: the group said “all we did was retaliate.”
The church has been a refuge for thousands of Christians attempting to escape the ongoing civil war in the country. Rev. Ndemaguia says the church averages between 4,000 and 6,000 people seeking refuge from the battles.
The civil war in the nation began last year when a Muslim extremist group attacked and overthrew the country’s government that was mainly run by Christians. They tried to set up strict Sharia Law but eventually bowed out of power because of international pressures.
Israeli military officials reported carrying out over 100 airstrikes in the last 24 hours at Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip.
The new offensive is part of a potential offensive into the Gaza Strip. Israel has called up over 40,000 troops to the border along the Gaza Strip as military officials continue to meet with senior Israeli ministers.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the Israeli leadership has had enough of dealing with terrorists.
“We have repeatedly warned Hamas that this must stop and Israel’s defense forces are currently acting to put an end of this once and for all,” spokesman Mark Regev told Fox News.
The movements and air strikes, called “Operation Protective Edge”, reportedly plans to continue air strikes at Hamas positions over the next several weeks.
Hamas has fired nearly 300 rockets into Israel over the last few weeks including 100 on Monday. The attacks come amid increased tensions after the terrorist group kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.
More than 60 girls who had been taken by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram escaped over the weekend and are now under the protection of the Nigerian government.
A local official in the Chibok area of Borno state told the Associated Press Monday that the girls were being held by a group of terrorists who attacked a military outpost. The girls escaped when the terrorists left to launch the attack on the base.
Officials say most of the girls are in good health but about a quarter had to be hospitalized because of infections and wounds. Several of the girls reported being beaten by their captors.
The girls reported they were not part of a larger group, meaning the terrorists have broken the girls up into smaller groups. Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened to sell the girls into slavery if the government does not pay for their release.
A group of Nigerian Christians are dead after Islamic terrorists impersonated pastors.
Members of Boko Haram entered the city Maidugur proclaiming they wanted to speak to the community about the “righteous path of God.” Villagers say the men said they came to preach and once the crowd was gathered, pulled out weapons and began to fire point-blank at the Christians who came to worship.
More gunmen then stormed into the village, destroying mobile phone towers to try and keep news of the attack from spreading and destroyed several houses belonging to the murder victims. They also burned down a Roman Catholic Church and government office.
The attack on Maidugur came after an assault early last week where Boko Haram impersonated government troops and said they were protecting villages in Borno province before launching assaults.
Nigeria, now considered the largest economy in Africa, has rejected offers of help from the United States and other western nations in stopping Boko Haram beyond searching for 200 kidnapped girls.
While the international community has been focused on a group of almost 300 girls kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, the same terrorists have quietly been conducting a killing spree of Christians in northern Nigeria.
The terrorists killed at least 29 Christians in the last two days in assaults on both churches and Christian communities in Borno state.
At least 21 people are dead from an attack on the Church of Christ in Nations church in Gwoza. The church was in the middle of a worship service when the Islamic terrorist invaded and began to systematically gun down anyone inside the sanctuary. Rev. Moses Thliza of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria in the same village said that several dozen were injured and the death toll is likely to rise.
The next day, the terrorists attacked several Christian villages. At least six churches were burned to the ground, eight Christians killed and several dozen seriously wounded. One Christian leader said the number of burned homes of Christians could not be counted.
Pope Francis told a crowd at a Rome stadium that Satan is attacking the family.
The Pope was holding a special mass and rally at Olympic Stadium in Rome that featured over 50,000 people raising their hands and praying in unison for the Pontiff who has repeatedly asked the public to pray for him since assuming the office.
Pope Francis said that the family was the “domestic church” and that Satan would love nothing more than to destroy the stability of the family. He announced that he will have bishops from around the world to the Vatican in October to discuss ways the church can help rebuild and reinforce the families of the church.
The Pope also brought a lighthearted moment to the event when he shared a story about his early days as an archbishop in Buenos Aires. He said that he didn’t “share” the way charismatic Catholics prayed there, dancing and singing, but later realized the “charismatic renewal is a great force.” He said that he thought the actions of the charismatics reminded him of salsa dancing.