According to a May 26 report, the Islamic State “burned an 80 year-old Assyrian [Christian] woman to death in a village southeast of Mosul.” The elderly woman was reportedly immolated for “failing to comply with Islamic Sharia law.”

On April 25, police raided a Christian worship service in Asella just south of the capital, Addis Ababa. The Church of Asella had just baptized 40 new converts to Christianity, prompting mass arrests.

One of those imprisoned, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity known only as “Palus Ejigu,” said, “We were gathered for sharing and encouraging each other with the Word of God. After we finished the service, police imprisoned us. Some of our friends ran away when they saw the way we were harshly handled.”

After weeks of suffering harsh prison conditions and abuses, Ejigu was eventually released. But five days later, four masked men forced him on his knees, put a pistol in his mouth, and ordered him to kill two pastor friends, or else his children would die:

I was commanded to follow the instruction of four covered, armed, persons who spoke in the Oromo language. I was also slapped two times and asked to kneel down. They put their pistol in my mouth and gave me instructions to kill pastors Nebiyou and Legesse.

Ejigu was instructed to accomplish the mission in three months’ time. If successful, he was promised an easier life abroad. But if he failed or refused, the masked assailants vowed to murder his three children. His wife’s Muslim family had already taken the children away from him, in accord with Islamic law.

On Sunday morning, May 31 in Senoras city, Fayum, masked men on motorbikes opened fire on an Evangelical church. Security forces guarding the church briefly exchanged fire with the assailants before the masked men fled on their motorbikes. No one was reported hurt.

On May 28, in Chakwal city south of Lahore, Muslim men destroyed a Protestant church and beat six Christians, including the pastor. Some of those wounded were hospitalized with minor injuries.

Pastor Suhail Masih and five other Christians were in the church when armed men entered the holy place, instigated by a local imam. They abused and beat those present, escaping before police arrived. Two people were detained by the police and then released.

A few days earlier, Pastor Suhail Masih and his companions were accused by local Muslims of carrying out “proselytism and conversions of Muslims.”

The attack comes just days after another Muslim mob tried to burn a church and damaged Christian houses, following a false accusation of blasphemy.

On Sunday, May 24, in the village of Kafr Darwish, just south of Cairo, a Muslim mob attacked Coptic Christian homes, including by hurling stones and Molotov explosives at them. More than 10 homes were torched and damaged.

This latest bout of Muslim persecution of Christians was prompted by a familiar narrative: one of the Coptic villagers, Ayman Youssef, was accused of posting cartoons offensive to Muhammad on his Facebook account.

Youssef is illiterate and says he lost his mobile phone a few days before the alleged Facebook posting.

Village elders and security representatives held a “conciliation session” and decreed that Youssef’s entire family—including 80-year-old father and 75-year-old mother—must leave the village in order for angry Muslims to calm down. The Christian family was even told by the village mayor Ahmed Maher that police “cannot guarantee their safety if they remained in the village.”

In Faisalabad, Pakistan, a gang of Muslims on motorbikes attacked a church near the Sadar police station. They opened fire on the church and set its main gate on fire, damage its windowpanes.

The attack took place on May 29 around 2 am. As news of the attack spread, locals arrived at the scene and threw water to extinguish the fire.

Three people were taken into custody following the attack.

Speaking to journalists, Church cleric Dilawar Masih said that “due to firing on church, the Christian community came under heavy stress and chaos. Though no human loss was reported in this incident, attackers gave a clear-cut message that Christians and their places of worship are not safe and they may be attacked any time by the terrorists.”

According to MCN, “Police officer Mohammed Megalli, who killed a Coptic woman, used to insult Copts of the district and treat them with contempt, said Nour Rashad, a cousin of the Coptic woman. Sarah Youssef Ghali was accidentally shot dead Monday by Megalli, a police officer from Manshiet Nasser Police Station in Cairo.”

On May 21, an Assyrian Catholic priest and a deacon were kidnapped in Homs, Syria. According to witnesses, two armed men riding a motorcycle entered the grounds of the Mar Ilyan al-Sharqi monastery of the Assyrian Catholic Church around 3 pm.

The kidnappers forced the head of the monastery, Fr. Jacques Murad, and Deacon Hanna Boutros, into Fr. Murad's own car and drove away.

In April, 2013 an Assyrian and a Greek Bishop were kidnapped in Syria. Their whereabouts also remain unknown.