Grenade Attack Near Cathedral Leaves Several Wounded in the Philippines

Assailants, motives remain uncertain.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – A grenade attack near a Catholic cathedral and radio station in the southern Philippines on Sunday (Dec. 22) could have been aimed at a military advance team for a presidential visit as much as the Christian sites, according to local reports. The grenade explosion injured at least eight soldiers […]

Christians in the Philippines Decry Growing Hostilities after Killing of Pastor

Churches upset with government tactics.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – Following the killing of a pastor on the Island of Mindanao on Friday, church leaders in the Philippines decried an alleged increase in attacks on Christian human rights defenders since the start of the Rodrigo Duterte administration in 2016. Pastor Ernesto Javier Estrella of the United Church of Christ in […]

Cathedral Bombing Appears to Make Terrorist Statement after Referendum in Philippines

Islamic State-affiliated group responsible, officials say.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – Christians in the insurgency-scarred southern Philippines who hoped for peace after the region won official status as an autonomous, Islamic sub-state last month received a mortifying message when Islamist terrorists bombed a Catholic cathedral on Jan. 27. Members of the Islamic extremist rebel group Abu Sayyaf, which claims allegiance to […]

Christians Shot to Death in Attack on Marawi, Philippines

Those refusing to recite Islamic creed are targeted.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – Among 19 civilians an Islamic extremist group in the Philippines killed after storming a city on May 23 were eight Christians shot for refusing to recite the Muslim creed, government investigators told local press. They were the first Christians slain in the ongoing battle for Marawi City, capital of Lanao […]

Terrorists Linked with Islamic State Abduct Priest in Attack in Mindanao, Philippines

Policeman beheaded, 13 other Catholics kidnapped.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – An ascendant terrorist group in the Philippines that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) yesterday wreaked violence on the island of Mindanao, kidnapping a catholic priest and 13 members of his parish. Soldiers engaged in firefights with the Maute Group (MG) in Marawi City as its militants reportedly […]

Morning Star News’ Top 10 Persecution Stories of 2015

Islamic violence accelerates in countries not known for religious conflict.

(Morning Star News) – Islamic extremist violence in countries not known for religious tensions, majority-Christian Kenya and Uganda, topped Morning Star News’ stories in 2015. While the Islamic State terrorized Christians in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria killed innocent civilians in the shadow of Boko Haram, in northeast Kenya Al […]

Maoist Rebel Group Suspected in Killing of Pastor, Son in the Philippines

Church planters shot while bathing in river.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – Christians on the Philippine island of Mindanao believe Maoist rebels are responsible for killing a Baptist pastor and his adult son near a southern town on Nov. 27. A friend of the pastor in Mindanao told Morning Star News that area Christians believe insurgents with the New People’s Army (NPA), […]

Suspected Islamic Extremists Bomb Bus in Philippines amid Bangsamoro Controversy

One dead, 33 wounded.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – Terrorists from the Islamic extremist group Abu Sayyaf were suspected in the bombing of a passenger bus in the predominantly Christian city of Zamboanga on Friday (Sept. 18) that killed a 14-year-old girl and wounded 33 others. Authorities said Abu Sayyaf had threatened D’Biel Transit, attempting without success to extort […]

Christians Fear Creation of Muslim Sub-State in Philippines

President’s solution to decades of violence could cause more tensions, critics say.

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – Christians and others in the southern Philippines have expressed strong fears that legislation creating an Islamic sub-state on Mindanao Island will exacerbate religious tensions rather than resolve them. The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), proposed by President Benigno Aquino III last September with the aim of ending decades of Islamist rebel […]