Karbino Bla, a Christian Sudanese man, succumbed to his injuries on 5 January, five days after he was assaulted by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Wad Medani.
One week later, Muslim extremists, also from the RSF, set fire to a church in the same city, destroying Bibles, hymnbooks, and church supplies.
“There are radical Muslims among RSF,” said the pastor of Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in an online post. “I met some of them in Khartoum and Medani who badly harassed me when they learned that I was a pastor.”
This incident is one of many church bombings in Sudan, including one in early November that left in ruins, the Church of Saviour, which had stood for 81 years.
Since former president Bashir was removed from power in 2019, Sudan has been in a state of flux, which only increased in April when the two leading forces, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), split power.
Christians in Sudan have faced persecution and oppression from a myriad of sources throughout the country’s history. Under the rule of Omar al-Bashir, extremely strict practices of Islamic Sharia law were enforced, and it was only after he was ousted that apostasy became legal.
During the current conflict in Sudan, however, churches have been repeatedly bombed and ransacked for the use of militia.
Sudanese Christians face danger in their daily lives but are especially at risk when they attend worship services due to the high volume of church attacks.
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