Tag: Islamic State

Philippines: Catholic priest, Marawi hostage for almost 4 months, tries to find healing

May 24, 2018 Philippines Islamic State, Kidnapping, Marawi, Maute, Philippines, Teresito Suganob

Fr. Teresito “Chito” Suganob in a still taken from an IS propaganda video posted on 30 May last year.

One year after Islamist militants stormed the southern Philippines city of Marawi and 8 months since his escape from his kidnappers, Catholic priest Father Teresito Suganob is trying to find healing for himself and his nation, reported UCAN. Father Suganob was one of around 200 people who were taken hostage . . . Read More

Philippines: Marawi, a year after Islamist siege, 50,000 still in temporary shelter

May 23, 2018 Philippines Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Catholics, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Marawi, Maute, Mindanao, Philippines

Street in battle-scarred Marawi in a still taken from a video.

People in the battle-scarred Southern Philippines city of Marawi are trying to rebuild their homes and lives one year after the place was stormed by Islamist militants. On 23 May 2017, militants belonging to the Maute group, an affiliate of Islamic State, took over Marawi. In what followed, five . . . Read More

Chechnya: Seven killed in Orthodox church attack

May 21, 2018 Russia Caucasus, Central Asia, Chechnya, Grozny, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church

The Archangel Michael Orthodox Church in the center of Grozny. (Photo: Vladimir Varfolomeev via Flickr; CC 2.0)

Seven people were killed in an attack on a church in Chechnya on Saturday (19 May) that was claimed by Islamic State, local sources told World Watch Monitor. The victims included two police officers who were guarding the church, all four militants and one churchgoer, World Watch Monitor was told. . . . Read More

Egypt: Families of beheaded Copts finally reunited with remains of loved ones

May 16, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Pope Tawadros II, Ramadan, Samalut, Upper Egypt

After a three-year wait and a number of broken promises, the Egyptian Coptic families of 20 men beheaded by IS in Libya in 2015 have finally received their loved ones’ remains. The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, accompanied by several bishops, priests and deacons, welcomed the 20 . . . Read More

New promise that bodies of 21 beheaded Christians will be returned to families

May 11, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Samalut

For the third time since February, the families of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian beheaded three years ago in Libya by IS have been promised the imminent return of their loved ones’ remains. The head of investigations at the Libyan Attorney General’s Office, Siddiq Assour, ordered on . . . Read More

Praying for a peacemaker: What do Iraq’s elections mean for the remaining Christians?

May 9, 2018 Iraq Anbar, Chaldeans, Elections, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Kirkuk, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Saddam Hussein, Shia, Sunni

A boy recently returned to his home in the Nineveh plains, looks out over the remains of Karamles (WWM May 2017)

Iraqis go the polls on Saturday (12 May) for the first time since the military defeat of Islamic State, whose campaign of terror against non-Muslims pushed thousands of the country’s last Christians to flee their homeland. Only about 200,000 to 300,000 Christians are thought to remain in Iraq now, mostly . . . Read More

Bangladesh’s religious minorities warned they may face ‘brunt’ of election violence

May 4, 2018 Bangladesh Awami League, Bangladesh, Elections, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jamaat-ul-Mujahedin Bangladesh, Minorities

Christians protest following an attack by local thugs on a church last Saturday in which three men were injured and the building damaged. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Christians and other minorities in Bangladesh face a “daunting election” at the end of the year, warns the Bangladeshi Bureau Chief of Catholic news agency UCAN. “Elections and violence go hand-in-hand in Bangladesh and minorities often face the brunt of this amid a tug-of-war between political parties jockeying for power,” . . . Read More

Philippines cathedral bomb attack followed warning of ‘very real’ terrorist threat

May 3, 2018 Philippines Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Marawi, Mindanao, Philippines, South Cotabato, Southeast Asia

The situation in Mindanao has been tense for many years. Military personal stand guard in front of a church in Davao City, Mindanao, after a bomb attack killed 14 people here in 2016. (Photo: MANMAN DEJETO/AFP/Getty Images)

Two people were injured after a bomb went off outside a Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines a day after regional leaders heard that the risk of terrorist attacks remains “very real”. The explosion at St. Anthony’s cathedral took place on Sunday (29 April) in the City of Koronadal, capital . . . Read More

‘Indonesia’s most important extremist ideologue’ faces death over church bombing

May 2, 2018 Indonesia Aceh, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, JAD, Jakarta, Kalimantan, Samarinda, Terrorism, Trauma

Radical Islamic cleric Aman Abdurrahman tells the court that what happened in Samarinda "violates what I believe about how to behave towards Christians”. (Photo: Hayati Nupus/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A Muslim cleric alleged to have inspired an attack on a church playground in Indonesia, in which one child was killed and three injured, has denied inciting hatred. Aman Abdurrahman, 46, is facing a possible life sentence or even the death penalty for allegedly masterminding a series of bombings, including . . . Read More

On trial for terrorism and espionage in a Turkish court

April 25, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Islamic State, Izmir, Kurds, Middle East, Missionaries, PKK, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Refugees, Suruç, Turkey, USA

Just one prisoner, slightly built, came through a side door, escorted on either side by armed gendarmerie soldiers, walking him past rows and rows of empty seats. Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, he glanced up at the impressive state-of-the-art courtroom, built to accommodate 650 people. Its walls . . . Read More

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