The cruelty of the Islamic State has reached a new level of brutality in Africa. In its weekly An Naba (No. 512), the terrorists not only claim the massacre of 121 Christians in northeastern Congo, but also publicly boast of having murdered children and women who refused to convert to Islam. Islamist propaganda describes the events as the “most violent operation in Lubero”, referring to Christians as “Nazarites” —a derogatory term—, and displays photographs where a fighter poses in front of burning motorcycles, a symbol of devastation.
The Martyrdom of the Children
According to information gathered by La Gaceta de la Iberósfera the jihadists burst into the village of Ttuyo, in the Lubero and Beni areas, during a large Christian gathering. There, they forced the minors to choose between “Islam or the sword”. The children, with unwavering faith, refused any apostasy and were killed instantly. Far from hiding the horror, the Islamic State turned it into a source of pride: “They chose to die themselves after rejecting Islam”, they celebrate on their pages, as if the martyrdom of innocents were a triumph.
Women Executed for Confessing Christ
The ferocity particularly targeted the women. The terrorists claim to have captured and executed 21 Christian women after the massacre. In their account, they delight in detailing how they reduced family belongings to ashes, burned houses, and destroyed livelihoods, targeting the most vulnerable in the community.
The Boast of Terror
The most chilling thing is not just the crime itself, but the way the executioners present it. ISIS propaganda turns the murder of children and women into a trophy, into propaganda material to fuel hatred and sow fear. The publication insists that it was the “most violent operation in Lubero” and uses language of contempt toward Christians, calling them “Nazarites”. The disseminated photograph —a fighter with his fist raised in front of burning motorcycles— is the staging of a barbarity intended to terrorize the defenseless and provoke the world’s complicit silence.
International Silence in the Face of a Genocide
While the terrorists proudly display their barbarity, the tragedy of these Christian families receives barely any attention on the international scene. Children executed for maintaining their faith, women killed for not renouncing Christ: all of it is lost in the indifference of governments and organizations that remain silent in the face of an ongoing religious genocide. The Islamic State does not hide its hatred; it proclaims it. And the West, with its silence, becomes complicit with the executioners.