Sudan: Muslims murder Christian pastor, abduct others

“Make ready for them all that you can of force and of warhorses, so that by them you may strike terror in the enemy of Allah and your enemy…” (Qur’an 8:60)

“Rebel Militants in Sudan Kill Pastor, Abduct Others,” Morning Star News, July 28, 2026:

JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – A rebel militant faction backed by Islamic extremist groups in Sudan on Friday (July 24) killed a pastor in South Kordofan state’s Nuba Mountains, area church sources said.

Members of a break-away group from the rebel Sudan’s People Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) stormed the Dabbi area of Hiban County, also called Heiban District, where they abducted and killed Pastor Adel Idris Jongool of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

The militants were targeting church leaders and other civilians out of both tribal and religious animosity, they said.

The attack followed an attack in Heiban town on Thursday (July 23) that reportedly left an unknown number of Christians dead and other church leaders abducted.

The Diocese of Heiban of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS), confirmed the attack in a press statement, with Bishop Al-Sir Hassan Kuku lamenting the killing of clergy under his oversight….

The attacks on Christians amid the armed conflict follow the killing on June 19 of a Catholic priest and one of his guards in Holy Cross parish in Kauda, South Kordofan by the same break-away militants. Another guard also was shot, survived and received hospital treatment.

The Nuba Mountains, an SPLA-N stronghold long battling Khartoum, has remained largely outside the military conflict that broke out in Sudan in April 2023, but a new frontline emerged there after the SPLA-N joined forces with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Armed factions in the Nuba Mountains have emerged that are fighting the SPLA-N, resulting in killing and displacement of civilians.

Both the RSF and the SAF are Islamist forces that have attacked displaced Christians on accusations of supporting the other’s combatants….

Both military leaders have Islamist backgrounds while trying to portray themselves to the international community as pro-democracy advocates of religious freedom.

Sudan was ranked No. 4 among the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian in Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List (WWL). Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 of the WWL list for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in 2021.