The past two weeks have seen two Christian leaders in Tanzania killed by radical Muslims. The first was an Assembly of God pastor killed on Feb. 11 in the northwest part of the country. Pastor Mathayo Kachili was killed when Muslims attacked Christians who had butchered an animal. (Traditionally all of the butcher shops in Tanzania have been run by Muslims, but in recent months Christians have tried to change that.)

At least 17 Christians were killed in simultaneous attacks on two churches near the Somali border on Sunday, July 1. A group of masked assailants launched grenades and opened fire with assault rifles on a Roman Catholic church and an African Inland Church located about two miles apart in Garissa, Kenya. In addition to the 17 killed, more than 40 people were wounded in the attacks.

Today, our friends at Compass Direct are covering another story of persecution in Nigeria, which is just heartbreaking.

If you missed the new episode of the Persecution Podcast, the good news is that it is still available online to listen to. In this episode the focus is on Egypt, Somalia, Israel and the Philippines.

ISTANBUL, May 9 (CDN) — A judge in Upper Egypt has dismissed all charges against a group of Salafi Muslims who cut off the ear of a Christian in a knife attack and tried to force him to convert. The Salafists, who say they base their religion on the practices of the first three generations of Muslims after Muhammad, had falsely accused 46-year-old Ayman Anwar Metry of having an affair with a Muslim woman, the Christian told Compass. On April 22 the judge exonerated the assailants only after Metry, under intense pressure in a “reconciliation meeting,” agreed to drop charges, said his attorney, Asphoure Wahieb Hekouky. “Him dropping the case and accepting the reconciliation meeting is shameful,” Hekouky said of the Egyptian justice system. The same Salafi Muslims who attacked Metry terrorized him and his family for a year, Hekouky said.