Tag: Kidnapping

IS ‘enshrines theology of rape’

August 14, 2015 Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Iraq, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Rape, Syria, West Africa

In 2014, following the kidnapping of 230 teenage girls from the mainly Christian enclave of Chibok in northern Nigeria, World Watch Monitor asked the question: How does Boko Haram justify its actions? A year later, The New York Times reports that the self-proclaimed Islamic State has “enshrined a theology of . . . Read More

More Christians ‘abducted’ in Syria

August 7, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Homs, Kidnapping, Qaryatain, Refugees, Sunni, Syria

Islamic State has taken over a Syrian town southeast of Homs, its first major success since capturing Palmyra, a World Heritage site, in May 2015, about 100km to the northeast. At least 230 people are reported to have been abducted from Al-Quaryatayn, a town of 40,000 mainly Sunni Muslims and . . . Read More

Boko Haram attacks intensify in Nigeria & Cameroon

August 2, 2015 Adamawa, Benin, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, IDPs, Kidnapping, Maroua, Muhammadu Buhari, N'Djamena, Niger, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Refugees, West Africa

On 25 July, 20 people were killed when a 12-year-old girl blew herself up in a crowded bar in Maroua, northern Cameroon.World Watch Monitor The radical Islamist group Boko Haram has intensified its suicide bombing attacks in northern Nigeria and Cameroon in recent weeks. On Friday (31 July) a . . . Read More

Birthday for a missing girl

July 17, 2015 Iraq Assyrians, Christina Abada, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Kurds

July 18 is Christina Khader Abada’s birthday. She’s 4. Her family won’t have a party for her. A soldier of the Islamic State took Christina from the arms of her mother nearly a year ago, and nothing has been heard about the girl since. “My biggest joy would be when . . . Read More

Kidnapped Syrian priest released unharmed

July 13, 2015 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, Catholics, Kidnapping, Syria

Rev. Dhiya Aziz, a Catholic priest kidnapped July 4 in northwest Syria, was released unharmed July 9, to which he belongs. Aziz was abducted from the town of Yacoubieh, where he serves as a parish priest. Initial reports were that he was en route to a meeting with the Emir . . . Read More

Iraqi Franciscan priest abducted in northwest Syria

July 8, 2015 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Assyrians, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Hasakah, Idlib, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Kidnapping, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Father Dhiya Aziz was kidnapped by militants from Yacoubieh, Idlib Province, where he serves as parish priest on Sat 4th July. The militants were purportedly taking him for a brief meeting with the Emir who exercises authority in that area, which is under the control of the Al-Qaeda affiliate group, . . . Read More

Islamist forces battle for Hassaka and Aleppo

June 5, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Hasakah, Iraq, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

Islamic State jihadists have begun closing in on two cities in northern Syria where there are still significant Christian communities. “IS is attacking Hassaka, and the situation is not that secure,” Father Emanuel Youkhana from the Christian Aid Program in Northern Iraq (CAPNI) told the Catholic Aleteia network on June . . . Read More

Kidnapped priest still missing

May 27, 2015 Syria Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Kidnapping, Qaryatain, Syria

A Jesuit priest reportedly kidnapped in Syria last week by Islamic extremists is still missing, with no news of his whereabouts. Father Jacques Mourad was abducted in Qaryatayn on 21 May by four suspected Islamic State terrorists riding motorbikes, reported Aid to the Church in Need. A spokesperson from Open . . . Read More

100s rescued from Boko Haram camps

April 29, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Women

The Nigerian army has rescued about 200 girls and 93 women from Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa Forest. Its spokesman said the freed hostages have yet to be fully identified but confirmed that the abducted Chibok schoolgirls were not among them. ‘The rescue is a rare piece of good news from northeast . . . Read More

A year gone

April 13, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Goodluck Jonathan, Kidnapping, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Rebecca Dali, Stephen Davis

A year later, the parents are still crying. It was April 14, 2014 when militants of the radical Islamic group Boko Haram kidnapped about 275 teenage school girls from Chibok, a predominantly Christian village in northeastern Nigeria. Some 232 of them are still missing, and for much of the year, . . . Read More

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