There is a call for prayer for Indonesian Christians after four people were brutally killed in an attack in Central Sulawesi. Contacts say one Christian was beheaded, two mutilated and another burned to death in an Islamic State-inspired attack on their village in Lewonu Lembantongoa.
The attackers struck on Friday morning, burning down a home used as a Salvation Army prayer room, along with seven other houses. News reports say the militants attacked the villagers with swords and guns, driving up to 750 from their homes. Rescue workers arrived at the scene while smoke was still rising and filmed a charred victim being pulled from the ruins.
Police are framing the attack as an act of terrorism by Islamist insurgents. A group affiliated to Islamic State is being held responsible. The East Indonesian Mujahedin is one of many groups in the region who have pledged allegiance to ISIS.
According to one report, the terror group may have suspected the Christian community of reporting them to the police and carried out the attack as a reprisal. And according to the Jakarta Post the Indonesian military have sent a special unit to search for the killers.
Please pray that this is not the beginning of a new wave of attacks.
Pray for the families of the people who were murdered.