In Newly-Released ISIS Video, 11 Christians Are Killed in Nigeria

The 56-second video was released a day after the Christian holiday.

(photo: Shutterstock)

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The Islamic State group in Nigeria released a video Thursday claiming to show the killing of 11 Christian men.

The Dec. 26 video shows masked militants beheading 10 blindfolded captives, and shooting an eleventh.

The west African province of Islamic State, which broke off from Boko Haram in 2016, said the killings were in vengeance for the October deaths of Islamic State’s caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and of its spokesman, Abul-Hasan al-Mujahir, Reuters reported.

Another video claimed the captives were taken in recent weeks from the Maiduguri area in Borno state.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

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Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

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‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis