06/26/2021 Mali (International Christian Concern) –The five Christians abducted in Mali on Monday have now been freed, reports Catholic News Agency.
“The five kidnap victims were dropped off at the roadside between Bankass and Bandiagara, in the village of Parou within the Diocese of Mopti,” stated the news agency, adding that the men were released on Wednesday, two days after they went missing.
All five men are said to be in good health.
Father Léon Dougnon , the parish priest of Ségué, Thimothé Somboro, the village chief of Ségué, Pascal Somboro, deputy mayor, and two other members of the community, Emmanuel Somboro and Boutié Tolofoudié, left their parish in the Diocese of Mopti on Monday to attend the funeral of Father Oscar Tehrea. The group never showed up to the funeral, and were later confirmed to have been abducted by unnamed gunmen.
French News Station RFI noted that the region where the group went missing is a “stronghold of the Katiba Macina jihadist group.”
Open Doors listed Mali as the 28th most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian in 2021. Islamic extremists have been able to overtake areas with weak governmental leadership and have capitalized on vulnerabilities created by COVID-19. Please continue to pray for all of those who have been kidnapped throughout the world, that they would return home unharmed to their families. Please also pray for their abductors, that they would be drawn from darkness to light by the love of Jesus Christ.
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