Displaying items by tag: Asia

On 3 June, while liberating western Mosul, Iraqi troops discovered a huge underground prison with dozens of detainees from Anbar province. The detainees were treated medically and then transferred to another place to check their identities. The UN estimates the number of civilians stranded at the battlefield in the old city at 200,000. They will be suffering severe shortages in food and medicine.

Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Iranian parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran on 7 June, killing at least 13 people. IS claimed responsibility, and threatened more attacks against Iran’s majority Shi'ite population. Iran's Revolutionary Guards blame their regional rival Saudi Arabia. Sunni Saudi Arabia denied any involvement in the attacks, but the assault further fuels tensions between Riyadh and Tehran as they vie for control of the Gulf and influence in the wider Islamic world. The attack happened one week after the meeting between Donald Trump and the Saudi leaders (who support terrorists). Trump said that he prayed for the attack victims but added, ‘States that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.’

The worst monsoon since 2003 hit Sri Lanka after two months of drought. 194 people died, and the toll is expected to rise. 99 people are missing, and 112 injured. Over half a million people are affected. Red Cross, police, foreign aid workers, and military are giving first aid, organising search and rescue missions, and distributing food and water. Homes are uninhabitable. Barnabas Fund reported that 200 churches and 5,000 Christian families are affected. However, Christians have not sought shelter in relief camps, fearing persecution, especially those in Buddhist temples. On 30 May Cyclone Mora’s winds of 85 mph lashed Bangladesh forcing the evacuation of 2.5 million people, killing at least six, destroying 20,000 houses and felling hundreds of trees. Meanwhile President Trump is expected to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, according to two senior US officials familiar with his plans - a major reversal of the previous administration's efforts on climate change. See:

Ninety died and 400 were injured when a truck bomb shook Kabul's diplomatic quarter, in one of the worst terror incidents to hit Kabul. People struggled to deal with the number of casualties. The damage was enormous. The majority of the dead were civilian men, women and children. In recent years jihadist groups have called for attacks on civilians during Ramadan, which began on 27 May. The explosion raises questions about security procedures. However, on 1 June the president told the BBC Today programme that thirty attacks are foiled for every one that gets through. Three years after David Cameron declared ‘mission accomplished’ and Barack Obama said the American war in Afghanistan was over, this carnage demonstrates the opposite. The West does not want another escalating war, while generals on the ground call for more troops. In 1989 foreign powers turned their backs on Afghanistan, which enabled the Taliban to burgeon. Now, the country cannot be allowed to disintegrate again in the face of IS, with the internet accelerating the dissemination of both ideology and violence. See

The Maute group, an Islamic extremist group linked to IS, captured nine Christians, tied their hands together and shot them dead in Marawi city, according to the Mail Online. Images circulated online show the Christians lying dead face-down in the grass. Reports say villagers are too afraid to move the bodies because terrorists are still in the area. News of the murders comes just days after the same group captured a Catholic priest, Father Teresito Suganob, the church’s secretary, two working students, and a number of parishioners. The militants are holding their hostages at an undisclosed location. They also set fire to the cathedral in Marawi. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines urged the government to make the safety of the hostages top priority.

A missionary writes, ‘Thank you for praying for our recent International Board meeting (see ). Board members and country directors are freshly united in our vision to see unreached people groups reached with the Good News. We ask for further prayers for an increasingly dangerous situation. The Taliban now control 50% of Afghanistan, and the former Hisbi-i-Islami leader Gulbadin Hekmatyar is ‘working with’ the Afghan government. He is nicknamed the Butcher of Kabul, for killing thousands of Afghans. At a rally in Kabul he asked his Taliban ‘brothers’ to join the peace process while outside the stadium Afghans demonstrated against him. This sad decision by parts of the government has caused further division in the government and the people.’ The inclusion of Hekmatyar in the volatile political powderkeg of Afghan politics is a gamble. He has never been a team player, and has never worked for anyone else. The influence of the Taliban, their allies and IS needs to be completely broken.

Iran’s presidential election today is seen as a referendum on Hassan Rouhani’s outreach to Western nations and his nuclear deal with world powers. The following are comments by some Tehran residents: ‘- I decided not to vote; candidates do not consider the future of our youth. - People have difficulty making a living. - I will not vote, I do not know any of these candidates and I do not trust any of them. - Voting or not voting will not make any difference. - I vote because of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the enemies around my country. - The biggest challenge of Iran is the mismanagement. If the president stops the reckless use of people’s assets by officials, it is possible to improve the situation. - 80% of the young people I know are jobless even though they hold master’s degrees. - Voting is a way of showing our protest to the heads of the ruling system.’

The city of Taiz has 2.4 million people, living in tragedy resulting from the two-year war. The city is important geographically, as it lies between the southern provinces, controlled by Hadi’s forces, and the northern provinces which are controlled by former President Saleh’s forces and the Houthis. Also, its southwestern coast overlooks the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, which sees one-third of the oil trade every day. Taiz has become central to the Yemen conflict, and militants are increasingly interested in controlling it. It has become a city ravaged by war and the Houthi blockade. Disease and malnutrition threaten people’s lives. Public employees’ salaries are cut, it is difficult to get relief aid to the displaced and afflicted, and living conditions are going downhill. People have fled to temporary settlements or camps, without access to sanitation or basic needs.

Behind the facade of a ‘tropical paradise’ are tragic realities: the highest divorce rate in the world, rising crime, widespread child abuse, pervasive drug use and over 200 young people joining IS.  All citizens are required to be Muslim. There are no churches, and there is no official access to God’s Word.  The Gospel of Luke and Acts are currently available in Dhivehi, but are not permitted to enter the country. No mission work or Christian literature has ever been legally allowed within the islands. Widespread traditional beliefs in spirits combined with Islam leave many almost entirely untouched by the Gospel, trapped in fear and without access to Jesus. Pray for miraculous opportunities for Maldivians to hear the Gospel, and that the government's attempts to silence it may instead raise up a Maldivian church.

A prayer leader writes: ‘Many were praying for safety and no attacks during the Easter days. NL was a medical student who got involved with Daesh in Hyderabad and married a terrorist. Three days before Easter they went to Lahore, intending to bomb a big church, but a relative informed the police, saying she was acting strangely. The police followed this lead, and there was a shootout with the couple. The husband was killed, but NL was taken alive. The church was safe. Also on a more spiritual theme, at the medical school in Hyderabad one girl who had attended our prayer seminars decided to start a 24/7 prayer group in Hyderabad with medical students attending. It has become so strong that women from the outside asked to join, and it now has 150+ members.’