Niger: Muslims torch 68 churches

MARCH 31, 2015 4:03 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER7 COMMENTS

Shhhh! “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013

“Dozens of churches burned in Niger by Muslim group,” Alabama Baptist, March 12, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

NIAMEY, Niger — At least 68 churches, two of which were Baptist, have been burned in the West African country of Niger.

Panlieba Tchalieni, president of the Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Niger, reported that the church burnings, carried out by Muslim extremist group Boko Haram, occurred in the Zinder region and Niamey.

“In terms of Baptist churches in Niger, we have two churches that are burned: the first evangelical church in Niger built in 1928 and another behind the Niger River built 15 years ago,” Tchalieni said.

Boko Haram, a Nigerian-based radical jihadist group that seeks to establish Sharia law, has extended its activities to other countries in West Africa, including Niger, where it has carried out recent attacks in the southeast.

Thousands of civilians fled their homes in the southeastern Niger town of Diffa. The area was already under stress, providing refuge to some 150,000 people who crossed the border to escape the violence in northern Nigeria.

Niger, which shares much of its southern border with Nigeria, declared a 15-day state of emergency in Diffa after a series of attacks by Boko Haram….