Persecution of Christians in the Philippines: Christians in the Philippines are plagued by a militant Islamic insurgency on the southern island of Mindanao that is determined to set up an Islamic state after the pattern of the former ISIS domains in Iraq and Syria, in which the Christian population was decimated. Please pray for God’s mercy and comfort upon the victims. And pray that those who believe that they are doing a righteous deed by menacing Christians and targeting churches would turn in repentance and lay down their arms.
For more ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in the Philippines, see here.
“Teen Muslim extremists attack church in Philippines, pepper building with bullets,” by Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post, January 8, 2021:
A Muslim extremist group, primarily made up of teenagers, attacked a church in the Philippines, peppering the building and a statue of the patron saint with bullets.
Persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reports that in December, the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a terrorist group based in the southern Philippines, attacked a parish church after conducting a raid on the town’s military and police outposts.
After a 15-minute firefight, both the church building and a statue of the patron saint bore bullet holes.
Police and military authorities said the BIFF had also plotted to set ablaze Sta. Teresita parish church and the church-run Notre Dame of Dulawan high school in the area. However, their attempt to burn the two church facilities was foiled by policemen and soldiers.
Just before the attack on the church, around 50 gunmen from BIFF laid siege to the police station of Datu Piang and burned a police patrol vehicle on December 3. The attack was carried out in response to the earlier arrest of two men with relatives in the BIFF.
The terrorists also opened fire at local houses, sending residents running to safety or cowering in their homes.
BIFF is an Islamic separatist organization that seeks an independent Islamic state for the Filipino Muslim minority, known as the Moro people, who live primarily in the Philippines’ Mindanao region. BIFF members pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014….
