Islamic terrorists target thousands of Christians in Mozambique: Mass displacements and beheadings
Alberto Miguel Fernández, vice president of MEMRI and former U.S. diplomat, described these acts as a "brutal and savage war" occurring in the shadows, which he said is often ignored by the international community.
Mozambique soldiers
Fighters aligned with the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) are carrying out a series of brutal attacks on Christian communities in central and southern Africa, with particular emphasis on Mozambique, reported Fox News. These acts, described as a "silent genocide" by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, include decapitations, church and home fires, and mass displacements.
According to MEMRI, the Islamic State Province in Mozambique (ISMP), an administrative division of ISIS, recently released 20 photos showing four attacks on "Christian villages" in the Chiure district of Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique.
The images reveal ISIS terrorists ransacking villages, burning a church and several houses, and beheading a member of what the jihadists consider "infidel militias" and two Christian civilians. The photos also show the bodies of several members of these militias, according to MEMRI's analysis.
Alberto Miguel Fernández, vice president of MEMRI and a former U.S. diplomat, described these acts as a "brutal and savage war" occurring in the shadows that he said is often ignored by the international community.
Speaking to Fox News, Fernández warned that jihadist groups are in a position to take control of several countries in Africa, posing danger not only to local communities, Christian and Muslim alike, but also to the national security of the United States.
Attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo
In a recent attack on July 27, the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) documented an assault on the Christian village of Komanda in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Islamic State-affiliated fighters opened fire on a Catholic church and burned houses, stores, vehicles and belongings, leaving at least 45 dead, according to MEMRI. Fernández explained that the aim of these groups is to "eliminate Christian communities," while Muslims are given the option of joining them or face annihilation.
Mass displacements and beheadings
In Mozambique, the United Nations Migration Agency reported that insurgent attacks in Cabo Delgado displaced more than 46,000 people in just eight days last July, of whom nearly 60% were children. Although the U.N. reports mention the attacks, they have not detailed the deaths or specified that Christians are the main targets. However, MEMRI reported that at least nine Christians were killed in separate attacks in Cabo Delgado during that period, including the capture and decapitation of six of them in the village of Natocua, Ancuabe district, on July 22.
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Meanwhile, the international Christian charity Barnabas Aid said that, according to the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, another three Christians were killed in Chiure district on July 24 and 25.
Mozambique has been facing an insurgency by Islamic State-affiliated militants in the north for at least eight years, and Rwandan forces have been deployed to support the country in the fight against these groups. The jihadists have also been accused of kidnapping children to use as laborers or soldiers.
A threat with little global attention
Fernández noted that theTrump administration has been "refreshingly tough" against jihadist terrorism, but pointed out that events in Africa often receive less attention compared to the Middle East. He also warned about the threat of jihadist ideology, which seeks to expand into weaker territories after the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq during Trump's first term. According to him, it is crucial to completely defeat these groups in Africa to delegitimize their narrative.
Iran asks Taliban for help in capturing alleged British intelligence collaborators to serve as 'bargaining chips' in nuclear talks
According to The Telegraph, the database contains the names of 25,000 Afghans who worked with the British Army or were linked to U.K. intelligence services, including soldiers in Afghanistan and officials in the Kabul government that collapsed in 2021 after the Taliban's rapid reconquest.
The leak occurred accidentally in February 2022, when a British soldier mistakenly sent the full file to Afghan contacts in the U.K., rather than a shortened version. Although the Taliban obtained the list that same year, the British government was not aware of the leak until August 2023. In response, London evacuated some 900 high-risk Afghans on the list, along with 3,600 of their family members, at a cost of approximately $2.7 billion. This operation, kept secret under a publication restriction order lifted last month, sparked a major controversy in the United Kingdom.
A senior Iranian official quoted by The Telegraph confirmed that the aim is to capture suspected MI6 spies to use as leverage in nuclear negotiations. According to the report, there is already cooperation between Iran and the Taliban, evidenced by the deportation last weekend of a listed Afghan expelled from Iran to Afghanistan. This individual, whose wife, sick son and two daughters remain in Iran, told the newspaper how he was stopped on the street, handcuffed and sent to a deportation camp. "I begged, I told them my life would be in danger in Afghanistan. I shouted 'where are the human rights', but they didn't care. They sent me straight across the border," he said, adding that he is now hiding in Kabul for fear of Taliban reprisals.
The Taliban, for its part, belatedly acknowledged the significance of the leaked list, according to The Telegraph. An Afghan government source indicated that the organization ordered the arrest of as many people as possible mentioned in the database, also seeking to obtain "bargaining chips" with London.
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