Thousands Flee Islamic State Attacks in Christian Villages in Mozambique

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for attacks on several Christian villages last month in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.

Between May 23 and May 31, six villages were attacked by Muslim extremists, leaving at least eight people dead. Four Christians were among those who were murdered, according to persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

Following the attacks, ISIS released photographs of six decapitated bodies, as well as images of the burned villages, several media outlets reported.

The attacks in the country’s northern Cabo Delgado province began in 2017 when Islamic extremists started an insurgency that was largely put down last year by an African multinational military force with troops provided by the 16 member countries of the Southern African Development Community.

Due to the increased violence in the region, the United Nations said 10,000 people have fled from the area just in the last week, according to Agence France-Presse.

“I’ve already left with my family, but I haven’t harvested my fields yet. I’ll have to come back once it’s safe,” Antonio Kalimuka told AFP.

Since 2017, more than 4,000 people have been killed in Mozambique, according to the watchdog group The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Last week, the U.S. government announced $29.5 million in aid for Mozambique through the U.N.’s World Food Program. Over the last five years, the U.S. has sent a total of $207 million to support 940,000 conflict-affected people in the northern provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassam, according to the U.N.

Nigerian Churches Have Become ‘Targets’ of Armed Extremists

Meanwhile, attacks by Islamic extremists against Christians continue in other areas of Africa. As CBN News reported, gunmen attacked two churches in rural northwestern Nigeria on Sunday, killing three people, witnesses and a state official said, weeks after a similar attack in the West African nation left 40 worshippers dead.

The attack in the Kajuru area of Kaduna State targeted four villages, resulting in the abduction of an unspecified number of residents and the destruction of houses before the assailants managed to escape, locals said.

It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack on the Kaduna churches, the Associated Press reported. Much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, with Kaduna as one of the worst-hit states. At least 32 people were killed in the Kajuru area last week in an attack that lasted for hours across four villages. {eoa}

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