Over 22,000 killed by Islamists in Africa in one year — most victims were Christians

According to a study by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), Islamist militants have killed 22,307 people across the continent in the past year. Most of the victims were Christians targeted in West, East, and Central Africa. Radical groups are deliberately attacking churches, Christian communities, and towns where believers live. This was reported by Christian Daily International.

The highest number of deaths was recorded in the Sahel region, which includes Mali, Chad, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon. Together with the Lake Chad Basin and Somalia, these areas account for 99% of all fatalities linked to Islamist extremists. As a result of the insurgency, about 950,000 square kilometers of land are now outside government control.

The most active groups are JNIM and Al-Shabaab, which use drones, artificial intelligence, and social media for propaganda and recruitment. In Somalia alone, militants killed over 6,000 people last year. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ISIS-affiliated fighters attacked a Christian church during a night service, killing 43 worshippers. Another massacre took place in Ituri Province, where 66 people were killed.

Researchers warn that the actual scale of the violence may be even higher, as military regimes in several countries have restricted media access. Over the past decade, more than 150,000 people have been killed by Islamist violence in Africa — a significant portion of them Christians.

Earlier reports said that a radical group attacked the village of Al-Sura al-Kabira in Syria’s al-Suwayda Governorate, looted and partially destroyed an Orthodox church belonging to the Antiochian Orthodox Church. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, militants not only desecrated the Church of St. Michael, but also carried out arson, looting, and destruction in the residential area. Several civilian homes were burned or severely damaged.