Four Christians have been captured and killed at the hands of ISIS terrorists in Mozambique, according to a report.
The murders took place in the Muidumbe District of Cabo Delgado earlier this month.
As CBN News previously reported, the U.S. State Department’s 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom says violent attacks began in Cabo Delgado Province in 2017.
“From October 2017, when the violence began, to December 2023, sources stated that the attacks displaced more than one million residents and killed more than 2,100 civilians of all faiths. During the year, ISIS-M killed approximately 62 civilians in attacks. In 2019, ISIS-M publicly pledged allegiance to ISIS,” the report explained.
Islamic State Mozambique said they captured two “infidel Christians” and “slit their throats” on November 3rd, according to Barnabas Aid, a non-profit organization.
Another believer was killed on November 7 during a machine gun attack and the other was captured and killed two days later.
The Islamic State Mozambique is reigning through terror in the region.
In January, 10 Christians were killed and more than 200 homes were burned in a span of two weeks.
The terror group closely aligns itself with Islamic State Central Africa Province, based in north-eastern D.R. Congo, with the activities of both groups coordinated by an Islamic State command center in Somalia, Barnabas Aid reports.
“They pursue their political goals according to a script dictated by the Islamic State,” said Professor Fernando Cardoso, a geopolitical expert. “According to IS, Cabo Delgado is supposed to be integrated into a caliphate to be established along the entire Swahili coast.”
The Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List ranks Mozambique as the 39th worst country to be a Christian. The annual reports list the top 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.
The province of Cabo Delgado is the only area in the country with a majority Muslim population. The nation as a whole is predominantly Christian, with evangelical and Pentecostal Christians making up a significant portion, the State Department report noted.
It also points out that the terror group is also targeting both Muslim and Christian communities.
So far, a coalition of religious organizations has conducted outreach and managed “peace clubs” to promote “religious tolerance.”
Missionary Heidi Baker lives and ministers in Cabo Del Gado province through Iris Global, a ministry she co-founded with her husband, Roland Baker.
Iris Global shared in a recently released video that the situation “remains volatile, with churches destroyed, lives lost, and the threat of attacks persisting near Iris Pemba.”
“To be brutally honest, this has been a very challenging time,” shared Will Hart, the CEO of Iris Global.
“[But] there is beauty in the midst of chaos,” he added. “We get to serve and preach, feed, and love as many of these people in these (displacement) camps as possible.”
Hart continued, “Many of our churches have been burned down. Our pastors have been killed, and their families have been killed. And to be honest, we do not have an exact number of how many have been killed. But in the midst of it, our team on the ground, Mozambicans, the few missionaries that are left there along with Heidi and Roland, who still live there full time, they are preaching this glorious gospel and are watching so many lives get transformed.”
Hart asked for believers around the world to pray for the nation of Mozambique.
“Jesus is worth it all and the price is worth it all, but we need your prayers,” he said.
Barnabas Aid posted this prayer to the webpage:
“Ask the Lord to comfort the bereaved and the fearful. Pray that He will bring an end to the Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique, for the sake of His children and all people there who want to live in peace.”
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