Islamist massacres against Christians in Africa have gotten increasingly more common, with the newest outrage occurring within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
At least 64 people were killed on 8 September when militants believed to be from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked Ntoyo village, in Saint Joseph of Maguredjipa parish, North Kivu.
Despite the name, the ADF is in actual fact aligned with ISIS, billing itself because the local branch of the international Jihadist group.
Local sources, talking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said that the attackers set fire to homes and killed their victims with guns and hammers. Many of those killed were attending a wake.
Sadly this isn’t the primary such attack within the DRC. In mid-August a wave of ADF attacks claimed the lives of 52 Christians, also in North Kivu. Some 43 Christians were killed a prayer vigil in July and in the beginning of the 12 months 70 Christians were found beheaded in a Protestant church.
Bishop Melchisédech Sikuli Paluko of Butembo-Ben, told ACN, “To all of the families affected by this umpteenth and horrible carnage … and to all of the faithful of the parish, we express our spiritual closeness.
“May God, the Master of Life, strengthen us through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consoler of the afflicted, and lead us beyond the desert of present-day suffering to lasting peace.”
Bishop Paluko’s comments concerning the regularity of anti-Christian massacres echoes those of Bishop Wilfred Anagbe from Nigeria, the country which has seen more Christians killed lately than some other.
Earlier this 12 months Bishop Anagbe told the British House of Lords that parts of the country had develop into so bad that massacres during Christian festivals like Christmas had develop into “customary”.
Despite an enormous Christian population, Nigeria currently is ranked by Open Doors because the seventh worst country for anti-Christian persecution attributable to the severity of Islamist violence in parts of the country.
The DRC is ranked thirty fifth on the list, but has risen six places from last 12 months, attributable to the rise in Islamist violence.
 Islamist massacres against Christians in Africa have gotten increasingly more common, with the newest outrage occurring...){kind=link}