Press statement by Bafana Modise; National spokesperson for South African Friends of Israel (SAFI)
Johannesburg, South Africa – At least 360 Christians were documented as having been killed across Africa during the second quarter of 2026, in attacks attributed by sources to Islamist extremists or armed groups accused of targeting Christian communities, according to the latest quarterly assessment by the South African Friends of Israel (SAFI).
The figure marks a 292% increase from the 123 deaths recorded in Q1, with the Q2 report covering the period 1 April to 30 June 2026. To date, these figures remain a conservative minimum and are based only on incidents in which Christian victims were expressly identified and for which SAFI could locate sufficiently detailed public reporting.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Mozambique and Burkina Faso once again accounted for the principal geographic clusters of documented deaths.
In the DRC, Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), also associated with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), continued a sustained campaign against Christian communities. In one April massacre alone, International Christian Concern reported 43 Christians killed, while Barnabas Aid placed the possible toll as high as 60. Barnabas Aid subsequently reported more than 80 Christians killed in several attacks in north-eastern DRC during May, followed by 76 Christian deaths in another series of attacks spanning late May and early June. Further June attacks included the beheading of 14 Christians and the killing of at least another 12 believers.
Nigeria also experienced repeated attacks on Christian communities. Twelve Christians were killed while attending Easter worship services in Kaduna, while another 17 Christians were reported killed in Benue that Easter weekend. Twenty Christians were then killed in Mbwelle, Plateau State, on 9 April. The violence continued through May and June. Thirteen Christians were killed in Bassa County on 8 May; nine were killed in Kaduna on 16 June; five Christian miners were killed in Plateau State that same day; and 28 Christians, including a pastor, were killed during an attack on Kawel village on 22 June.
Mozambique has also seen a marked escalation. Islamic State Mozambique (ISIS‑M) has waged an insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province since 2017, and attacks intensified again through Q2 2026.
“The numbers have moved in precisely the wrong direction. Three months after SAFI launched this quarterly tracker, the evidence continues to show that Christian communities in parts of Africa are being murdered, displaced and terrorised on an extraordinary scale, yet their suffering receives nowhere near the international attention it deserves,” says Bafana Modise, National Spokesperson for SAFI.
A defining feature of this violence is the systematic abduction of Christian women and girls for sexual slavery, forced marriage, and forced conversion. In Nigeria, Leah Sharibu remains in captivity eight years after her abduction by ISWAP/Boko Haram because she refused to renounce her faith, symbolising thousands of similar cases. UN experts have warned of widespread killings, sexual violence, forced conversion, and enforced disappearance targeting Christian women and girls in northern and Middle Belt Nigeria.
In many of these regions, the victims are not only targeted for their faith but also as indigenous peoples whose lands and resources are coveted by jihadist groups and their allies. Churches are destroyed, Christian villages are emptied, and survivors are driven into internal displacement camps or neighbouring countries. This pattern, repeated from the DRC to the Sahel and from Mozambique to the Lake Chad basin, constitutes a slow‑motion ethnic cleansing that is rarely headlined in mainstream media.
“This is why SAFI will continue publishing these figures. Every statistic represents a father, mother, child, pastor or worshipper whose death should matter. Africa cannot become accustomed to the murder of Christians by extremists, and given that Christians constitute about 80% of the South African population, the ANC government should be held to account for remaining deafeningly silent on this pervasive issue,” adds Modise.
SAFI again calls on the South African Government, faith leaders and civil society to speak consistently against Islamist extremism and to stand unequivocally with African communities threatened because of their faith: “The ANC must address the escalating levels of Islamist violence as it intensifies across neighbouring countries in Africa, and stand firmly against it before we begin to feel the consequences of this extremism here in SA,” concludes Modise.
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Date published: 23/08/2026
Feature image: Created by Magnific; for illustration purposes only.
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