Muslim government officials attended the Christmas service of Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, a congregation the previous government harassed for years.

Ethnic Wa rebels closed the churches in September 2018, destroyed at least 10 church buildings and detained more than 200 Christians who were later released.

Persecution rising toward levels under Chairman Mao. “The days are coming when whole Christian families will find themselves unable to access not merely transport, but schools, hospitals, bank loans and jobs”, a source says.

Police registered a report against the Hindu extremists but have taken no action. Another report was registered against the pastor and seven family members.

As part of a larger prison sentence delivered in 2013, Ebrahim Firoozi, 33, was sentenced to two years in exile in Sarbaz, a frontier town on the Iranian-Pakistani border known for its isolation and prevalence of Islamic militant groups.

“Through their prayers, God brought us help. God used a former governor of Kaduna state to assist us”.

The new government reiterated that Christian properties confiscated under the previous regime would be returned.

Police have bowed to political pressure from the assailants to make no arrests and have stopped investigating.

Police use force to eject Christians resisting in protest. The closures this week bring to 15 the number of worship buildings sealed since the government launched a campaign againt churches.

Armed herdsmen stormed the community and shot indiscriminately into houses, forcing residents to flee into bushes surrounding the village.

The kidnappers have contacted school officials with their demands for ransom.

It is not clear from the video, temporarily posted on YouTube, when the two men were executed. Their identities were confirmed by a Church of Christ in Nations pastor.

Boko Haram has killed an estimated 35,000 civilians. The insurgency that began in Maiduguri, Borno state increasingly struck Christian educational institutions, health facilities and worship sites.

Hindu extremist threats have driven a pastor in Nepal into hiding following a leak onto social media of a restricted audience-interview he gave on his journey to Christ.

The extremists demanded that at least one of the Christian organizers should be beaten to death, to teach them a lesson.

Algerian authorities have engaged in a systematic campaign to close Christian places of worship and other Christian institutions since November 2017.

Drug cartel suspected in the killing of one pastor. The head of an evangelical shelter for refugees was kidnapped while interfering with a drug ring’s efforts to kidnap Cuban immigrants.

Police officials assured church leaders that they were aware of Hindu extremist opposition to Christianity, but they gave no indication of investigating and putting an end to it.

Congregation initially refuses to leave. “The assembly finally yielded and agreed to leave the premises, but with much pain”, Pastor Takilt said.

“The number of violent attacks against Christians has alarmingly increased in the three years of President Rodrigo Duterte’s government”, Christian organisations in the Philippines say.

Christians were dragged to the village leaders and forced to sit and bow to the goddess idol. Police decline to act, sources say.

Separately, another judge fines owner of land where church was meeting in a tent.

In the Chhattisgarh state, villagers attacked the homes of three Christian families, leaving 25 people homeless. Death threats are followed by reconversion rituals.

Suspected Fulani herdsmen killed several Christians, kidnapped 19 and burned at least 12 houses throughout Nigeria in May.

Citing a law that requires authorization for non-Muslim places of worship, authorities in North-central Algeria ordered the closure of the church and its Bible school.