The
plight of Eritrean Christians continues. According to The Telegraph (5 June 2015), 86 Eritreans have been abducted by Islamic State militants on June 3
rd. The report says the militants ambushed a caravan used by human traffickers. Following the control of the caravan the first thing that the militants did was to separate Christians and Muslims. Those who claimed they were Muslims, were asked a series of questions to make sure that they were not pretending. Fox News reported: "The defense official [US] confirmed initial reports of the mass kidnapping to Fox News after seeing a recent intelligence report."
Ashagrie, persecution analyst of WWR, comments: "The general situation in Eritrea is not getting better; especially not for Christians. Thus, they are risking their lives to escape, even knowing that they might be an easy prey for Islamic State and other human traffickers. Those who remain in the country are languishing in the Eritrean notorious prisons without access to health and family visit for decades. Eritrean Christians are suffering at home, and their way to escape Afewerki"s regime is infested by Islamic terrorist groups who have continuously proven their potency to the international community by committing various barbaric atrocities. The latest episode is another signal that shows that life for Eritrean Christians has become more cumbersome than ever. In the month of April Islamic State also kidnapped 79 Eritrean and Ethiopian Christians out of which Islamic State showed the beheading and shooting of 30 Ethiopian Christians."
