Indonesia

It was 7:30 on a Sunday morning when two brothers, ages sixteen and eighteen, rode their motorcycles to the Santa Maria Catholic Church in Surabaya, Indonesia, and detonated their explosives, killing themselves and six others in the blast. Five minutes later, the boys’ father drove a car filled with explosivesinto the Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church. The bombs detonatedoutside the building, killing the driver and six churchgoers. In another part of town, the boys’ mother and two sisters, ages nine and twelve, approached the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church with explosives strapped to their bodies. When a security guard stoppedthem, they detonated their explosives, killing themselves and the securityguard. No church members were killed in the blast. A single family attacked three separate churches within a span of ten minutes. Twelve Christians were killed, and more than forty men andwomen were injured. Shortly after the attacks, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the bombings. Investigators eventually learned that the family had spent time in Syria and was working with the group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, an Indonesian militant group with close ties to ISIS. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Althoughattacks against Christians there have become less

Four teenage girls walked down the path leading to Poso ChristianHigh School. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky and the girlslooked forward to another day of classes. It was a holiday for theIslamic schools in the area, celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. ButChristian schools like the one the four girls attended were still in session.Their friendship and fellowship brought smiles across their young facesas they enjoyed the peacefulness of the early Saturday morning. The stillness of the air was broken as six men dressed in black andwith veils covering their faces jumped out of the bushes and ran towardthem. Before the girls could move, the men surrounded their young victims and viciously began swinging machetes. Screaming for help, thegirls fought for their lives. Only one, Noviana Malewa, was able toescape. Covered in blood from cuts mostly on her face, she ran to findhelp. The bodies of Theresia Morangkir and Yarni Samube (both fifteenyears old), and Alfita Poliwo (seventeen), were left on the ground, theirheads severed from their bodies and missing. A couple of women walking to the nearby market heard the girlsscreaming for help. Filled with fear, the women ran toward the militarypost, reporting what they heard.