by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Hundreds of Christians have been slaughtered by Islamic terrorists in at least three African countries in recent weeks, CBN News reports. Christian communities in Nigeria, South Sudan, and Cameroon have been targeted by terrorists from different groups, including Boko Haram and Fulani militants.
The UK-based Barnabas Fund persecution aid agency reported that, last month alone, at least 121 Christians were murdered and thousands forced to leave their villages in the South Kaduna state of Nigeria. The slaughters were reported to have been carried out by Muslim Fulani herdsmen armed with machetes and knives in what has been a long-term campaign of violence. Barnabas said Christians in Kaduna have asked for prayers of peace in light of the “endemic,” relentless attacks, CBN News reported.
On August 2 in Cameroon, Boko Haram killed 18 Christians while they slept at a camp for displaced people. The camp building was also ransacked and several other people were wounded. The Barnabas Fund says Boko Haram terrorism against Christians has intensified in Far North Cameroon, which is close to the jihadist bases around Lake Chad and northeastern Nigeria, CBN News reports.
In South Sudan, 23 people were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during an attack on an Anglican church in Jonglei State on July 27. "After killing people in the church, the gunmen went to the homestead village and killed people there," Bishop Moses Anur Ayom told the Episcopal News Service. "The gunmen burned down the whole village in Makol Chuei."
"I would like to appeal to the international community to intervene,” Ayom said. “As a church leader, I forgive the gunmen. The Bible says we have to forgive those who do wrong to us."