By Rohan Gunaratna
Introduction
The silent genocide in Africa by the Islamic State and Al Qaeda is escalating. Islamic State operations in the past 12 months have resulted in 4,943 casualties worldwide including 3,720 in Africa alone. They include 1,480 Christians; 1,616 homes and 20 churches set on fire as of June 27, 2025.
The largest number of attacks and victims was in Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), with most attacks in Nigeria, and to a lesser degree in Cameroon and Niger, with 445 operations and 1,552 casualties. The second-largest area of operations was the Central Africa Province (ISCAP), generally referred as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with 1,126 killed and wounded in 240 attacks.
I quote the statistics from the Islamic State infographic now published by MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM).[1]
The Context
The different religious communities in Africa have lived in peace for generations. Historically, Africa has largely witnessed co-existence between Christians, Muslims and others. Throughout Africa, religious freedom, the right to worship according to one’s beliefs, is protected. As most African countries are secular nations, religious discrimination is prohibited. However, with the rise of Islamism in the last century, a range of threat groups emerged in the Middle East and then spilled over to Africa.
The Islamic State previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has intensified their violent campaign against Christians in Africa. Rampaging jihadist groups celebrated the beheading of Christians and burning churches and homes in central and Southern Africa. Some of the most brutal attacks are taking place in the nation of Mozambique. The violence has been atrocious, with entire villages razed, people beheaded, and women raped. The death toll in Mozambique is currently at over 3,000 dead, with a million displaced.”[2]
The brutality of the Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) is well documented.[3] Previously known as al-Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASJ), ISMP recently released 20 photos boasting of four attacks on “Christian villages” in the Chiure district, in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province.
ISMP has been waging a terrorist and an insurgent campaign in Cabo Dalgado since 2017. After slaughtering thousands of people, ISMP is demanding that Christians pay jizya, a tax as a sign of their submission to the defunct caliphate.[4]
ISMP is aligned to the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP, formerly known as the Allied Democratic Forces). ISCAP was responsible for the deaths of at least 34 Christians at a church service in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday, July 27. Both ISMP and ISCAP are co-ordinated by the Islamic State Al Karrar Office in Somalia headed by Abdulqadir Mumin.
Background
The Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) is targeting Christian communities and security forces in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Del Gado region. They have claimed responsibility for a series of attacks between July 23 and July 27, 2025.[5] The attacks continue into August 2025.
On July 28, 2025, ISMP issued a statement that its operatives captured, and later beheaded, one “nonbeliever” (Christian) villager in Chiure District of northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. Another statement by the group claimed that on July 26, ISMP operatives captured and later beheaded two Christian villagers in Nabala village, in Chiure District, Cabo Delgado.
The day before, ISMP operatives carried out an IED attack targeting Mozambican army forces in the Macomia District of the country’s northern Cabo Delgado province, disabling an armored vehicle and wounding its passengers.
Another statement by the group claimed that on July 24, ISMP operatives had assaulted the Christian village of Ntunhan, in Chiure. During the attack, the operatives killed one Christian and set fire to multiple homes.
In a statement dated July 24, ISMP claimed its operatives assaulted with machine guns a police station in Chiure District, in Cabo Delgado Province, forcing them to flee the site. Subsequently, the operatives seized equipment inside the station, set a vehicle on fire, and “liberated a prisoner” held at the station, before they returned to their bases safely, according to the statement.
On July 25, Islamic State A’maq Agency released a short clip documenting the attack on the police post in Chiure Velho village, showing armed operatives storming the site, looting weapons, and “freeing a Muslim man” detained at the site. The video concludes with an operative delivering a message threatening further attacks and calling on Muslims to rush forth and join jihad, and “move out of the land of nonbelief to the land of Islam.”
On July 24, ISMP claimed its operatives on July 23 had clashed with Christian militias in Magaia Village, in Muidumbe District, Cabo Delgado Province, forcing them to flee. Subsequently, the operatives set multiple Christian homes on fire and looted personal belongings.
ISIS attacks on Christian communities in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Nigeria continue to fuel up the group’s ideology of expansion in the African Continent. On June 26, 2025, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 501 of its weekly Al-Naba’ newsletter, which featured an infographic detailing the group’s “harvest of operations” during the previous Hijri calendar year, 1446, which ran from July 7, 2024, to June 26, 2025. Declaring its casualty toll, ISIS claimed it had killed or wounded a total of 4,943, among them 1,480 “Crusaders” in Christian communities, namely in Nigeria, DRC, and Mozambique.
Impact
The displacement in Mozambique is the latest consequence of a cascade of overlapping emergencies in the country – including armed violence, climate shocks, disease outbreaks and a severe funding shortfall. Since January, over 95,000 people have fled insecurity in Cabo Delgado and humanitarian access is becoming increasingly fragile.[6]
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), attacks by armed groups between 20 to 28 July triggered the displacement of at least 46,667 people across the districts of Chiúre, Ancuabe and Muidumbe.
Chiúre was the hardest hit, with more than 42,000 people uprooted – over half of them children.
“Insecurity persists, and people on the move often lack civil documentation,” OCHA said in a humanitarian bulletin on Saturday. “These challenges may impact the ability of displaced people to move freely, safely access basic services and maintain their livelihoods.”
Response
There are no protests, demonstrations and hashtags of the deafening outrage in Africa. There is no “Save Africa” campaign. Unlike the demonstrations and protests on Gaza that is funded by Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters, the developments in Africa are not reported. The ideology of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, Islamic State is religious fanaticism.
Human rights and humanitarian organisations should highlight the killing spree in Africa, too. Similarly, the United Nations and other international bodies should address the rise in religious fanaticism in Africa before it is too late.
The international community should respond by capacitating governments and partners in Africa to fight this emerging threat. Otherwise, in the future, the security of Africa too will deteriorate like the security of the Middle East or South Asia. Furthermore, religious leaders, human rights activists, and civil libertarians should travel to the affected countries in the continent. They should promote moderation, toleration and coexistence and also introduce human rights as a subject to madrasahs and schools.
—————
To raise public awareness and enhance specialist understanding of the extant and emerging threat of terrorism in Africa, I have edited the ‘Handbook of Terrorism in Africa’ with 25 continental experts.
Together with my co-editor Dr C. Nna-Emeka Okereke, we have published the “Palgrave Handbook of Terrorism in Africa”. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-89940-9
[1] <https://www.memri.org/jttm/islamic-state-isis-tallies-operations-past-12-months-4943-casualties-–-3720-africa-alone-–-1480>
[2] <https://globalchristianrelief.org/christian-persecution/countries/mozambique/>
[3] <https://www.politico.eu/article/totalenergies-mozambique-patrick-pouyanne-atrocites-afungi-palma-cabo-delgado-al-shabab-isis/>
[4] <https://www.persecution.org/2024/03/07/war-on-christians-in-mozambique/>
[5] <https://www.memri.org/jttm/over-four-days-islamic-state-mozambique-province-claims-it-beheaded-four-christians-set>
[6] <https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165560>