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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Tanzania: Christian persecution heats up on mainland and islands off the coast; churches destroyed, parish members murdered including children

Zanzibar, a fabled city with a history of ancient proportions is the scene of Christian persecution.  Another city of the past is being torn asunder by Islamic doctrine, and the country will soon fall to the hands of Muhammads army.  When I think Zanzibar I think of Hope and Crosby, not jihad and sharia.  The Road to Zanzibar today is paved with the bones of the victims of jihad, and it is getting worse.

From Morningstar News May 18

Anti-Christian Hostility High in Zanzibar as Tanzania Mainland also Heats Up

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (Morning Star News) – Islamic extremist attacks and land grabs on this semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania have continued unabated even as violence has increased on the mainland.

The May 5 bombing of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Arusha killed a 45-year-old woman, a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. Of the two Tanzanians and four foreigners arrested – now officially identified as one from Saudi Arabia and three from the United Arab Emirates – only one Tanzanian national reportedly remains in custody as a suspect.

While Islamic extremist activity has increased in Tanzania, Christians on the Zanzibar archipelago have recently suffered attacks by Islamists and the separatist group Uamsho (Re-awakening). Uamsho, the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation, has issued explicit threats to Christians on Zanzibar Island since October 2012.

At midnight on April 20, Islamic extremists in Kianga, 16 kilometers (11 miles) from Zanzibar City, demolished most of the Pool of Siloam church building, a church leader said. Three suspects were arrested, only to be released after three days.

“When we tried to follow up the case, we found out that some of the information concerning the pulling down of the church was missing,” church pastor Israel Baraka Elijah told Morning Star News. “Hence, we decided to give up all together.”

Damages were estimated at $2,500, he added. Muslim extremists had attacked the church building before, setting part of it on fire on Feb. 19 and battering it with sledge hammers in November 2011.

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