ISIS terrorists are beheading Christians and burning churches and homes in central and southern Africa, according to international observers. Military groups linked to Islamic terrorists have been held responsible for a swathe of attacks in the area in recent months.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), attacks on Christians are increasing in the region in what it has labelled a “silent genocide.” Photos released recently by the Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) show four attacks on Christian villages in Mozambique, with churches burned down, corpses of what the jihadists call “infidels” left strewn on the ground. MEMRI Vice President Alberto Miguel Fernandez told Fox News Digital: “What we see in Africa today is a kind of silent genocide or silent, brutal, savage war that is occurring in the shadows and all too often ignored by the international community.
“That jihadist groups are in a position to take over not one, not two, but several countries in Africa – take over the whole country or most of several countries – is dangerous.”
Fernandez, who is a former US diplomat, added: “It’s very dangerous for the national security of the United States, let alone the security of the poor people who are there – Christians or Muslims or whoever they are.”
It comes as the group is reported to be planning terror attacks across Europe.
In a Telegram post releasing the jihadist newspaper al-Naba, ISIS accounts urged supporters “to kill Christians and conduct attacks until the group reaches the shores of Europe”.
Various military groups affiliated with ISIS have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks across Africa, with religious fanatics often but not solely targeting practising Christians as they seek to expand their influence across the region.
According to MEMRI, fighters from the Islamic State of Mozambique allegedly captured and beheaded six Christians in the village of Natocua in July.
Fernandez described the difficulty in combating attacks from the group, which has changed the way it operates in recent years after losing the large chunks of land it occupied across Iraq and Syria until 2017.
Rather than occupying land and operating as an Islamic caliphate, the group now has influence over dozens of small, independent cells operating across continents.
Fernandez added: “It’s kind of like a whack-a-mole situation.
“What we need to see is them to be utterly defeated in Africa, so people will say, people on the sidelines or people on defence will say, ‘Well obviously these people did not have the mandate of Allah, the mandate of God, they were losers, they lost.’ That’s what we need.”