More than 60 women and girls are reported to have escaped from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, security sources say. They were among 68 abducted last month near the town of Damboa in north-eastern Borno state. But some women who made it home said they feared other escapees had been recaptured, villagers told the BBC. Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Borno's Chibok town in April. Initial reports said the women escaped when the militants went to attack a military base near Damboa on Friday. Local vigilante Abbas Gava told journalists he had ‘received an alert from my colleagues that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home’. ‘They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation,’ he said. But 18 women who have made it back to villages around Damboa over the last three days - and are being treated at a hospital in Lasa village - said the militants were asleep when they escaped, a Lasa resident told the BBC Hausa Service.

More than 60 women and girls are reported to have escaped from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, security sources say. They were among 68 abducted last month near the town of Damboa in north-eastern Borno state. But some women who made it home said they feared other escapees had been recaptured, villagers told the BBC. Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Borno's Chibok town in April. Initial reports said the women escaped when the militants went to attack a military base near Damboa on Friday. Local vigilante Abbas Gava told journalists he had ‘received an alert from my colleagues that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home’. ‘They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation,’ he said. But 18 women who have made it back to villages around Damboa over the last three days - and are being treated at a hospital in Lasa village - said the militants were asleep when they escaped, a Lasa resident told the BBC Hausa Service.

Four churches have been attacked and scores of people killed in the latest bout of violence by suspected Boko Haram members. Gunmen fired at worshippers gathered in Kwada village just 6 miles from Chibok in Borno state, where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped and taken hostage on 14 April. The militants then set fire to the buildings, which included the Protestant Church of Christ in Nigeria and the Pentecostal Deeper Life Bible Church, before heading to nearby Kautikari village where they continued their rampage; shooting local civilians and setting fire to their homes. The death toll is reported to be at least 30 in Kwada, though this figure is expected to climb. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Muslim-majority Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States in May 2013 and has authorised an increased military presence in an attempt to combat extremism.

A truck has exploded in a huge fireball, killing at least 17 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the latest attack in a city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram fighters. Tuesday's bomb rocked Maiduguri's largest roundabout near the crowded Market where elderly women line the road selling peanuts and kola nuts as snacks to morning commuters. The Defence Ministry said in a tweet that an ’improvised explosive device’ went off in ‘a van loaded with charcoal’ and that the area had been cordoned off. One witness said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8am before most traders or customers had arrived. Unruly crowds tried to attack fire-fighters deployed to the scene, accusing them of arriving too slowly and hindering their efforts to put out the raging blaze, the AFP news agency reported.

Israel has vowed retribution against Hamas, the militant Palestinian group it says kidnapped and murdered three teenagers in the occupied West Bank. The bodies of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were found on Monday evening, after they had been missing for more than a fortnight. Israel PM Benyamin Netanyahu said: ‘Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay.’ Hamas denies any involvement. Israel launched more than 30 air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight. The strikes came in response to 18 rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza since Sunday night, the Israeli military said. Israeli troops also flooded into the Palestinian town of Halhul. The bodies were found under a pile of rocks near the town. An Israeli official said it appeared the teenagers were shot soon after their abduction. (See also Prayer Alert 23-2014) Tensions rise further after Israeli police found the body of a Palestinian teenager on Wednesday, apparently a revenge attack.

Jihadist militant group ISIS has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and ‘leader for Muslims everywhere’. Setting up a state governed under strict Islamic law has long been a goal of many jihadists. Meanwhile, Iraq's army continued an offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit from the ISIS-led rebels. The city was seized by the insurgents on 11 June as they swept across large parts of north-western Iraq. In a separate development, Israel called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state in response to the gain made by the Sunni rebels in Iraq. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) announced the establishment of the caliphate in an audio recording posted on the internet on Sunday.

Despite the Central Africa Republic (CAR)’s increasing level of chaos, a glimmer of hope has been developing in its northern town Bozoum - which is peaceful and prosperous thanks to mediation efforts. This town of about 26,000 inhabitants enjoys a relative calm which ensures the functioning of vital services such as the hospital, schools and market, thanks to mediation efforts of people of good will under the leadership of an Italian priest, Father Aurelio Gazzera, the bishop of St. Michael Parish of Bozoum. Since Seleka rebels took over power in March 2013, numerous armed men claiming to be from the Seleka rebels or opposing anti-Balaka militia have been looting and committing other forms of abuse against the population, in Bangui and elsewhere across the country.

Pakistani authorities prevented more than one thousand ‘persecuted’ Christians from fleeing Pakistan and hundreds of Christian asylum seekers have been detained in Sri Lanka, a well-informed source told BosNewsLife Sunday, June 29. ‘More than 1000 Pakistani Christians were illegally removed from their confirmed flights from Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports in recent months.' he added. ‘It was the first step to end this mass exodus’. Christian refugees who managed to arrive in Sri Lanka have reportedly been targeted as well. Local media reported that the Sri Lankan Immigration and Investigation police had started a joint operation against Pakistani Christian asylum seekers. They had reportedly detained hundreds of asylum seekers in recent weeks. The Christians were to be deported because of their alleged involvement in ‘anti-state activities’ in India and Pakistan.

Christian leaders representing over 1 billion people from 170 nations have sent an open letter to heads of the G20, calling for urgent action on corruption and tax evasion, reports Micah Challenge International in a media statement released on 26 June. This historic anti-corruption initiative by the global Church comes at a decisive political moment as finance ministers meet in Australia ahead of the G20 summit in November. The letter was handed in to Australia’s Treasury as part of a lobbying event in Canberra that saw over 200 advocates meet with 100 MPs. Participants also gathered near Parliament shining symbolic giant lights on the darkness of corrupt deals. Australia holds the presidency of the G20 this year and plays a crucial role in setting the priorities for the meeting in Brisbane. The letter represents the hopes of millions around the world looking to Australia to take the lead on financial transparency.

Police in eastern India were investigating Saturday, June 21, why a Tibetan couple was hacked to death after converting to Christianity. The investigation came while a funeral was under way for Dominic Bhutia, 45, and his 35-year-old wife Christina who were hacked to death in Git Dabling village in India's West Bengal state. One of the couple’s two daughters, Rinjee, 12, was seriously wounded, Christians said. Masked assailants also gouged out the eyes of the victims in front of Rinjee, Indian media reported. A younger daughter, aged seven, was spared as Rinjee hid her under a bed, local Christians said. The attack, 28 kilometres (17 miles) outside the town of Kalimpong in Darjeeling Hills, underscored concerns about a lack of security for minority Christians in India. Christians and churches have been attacked in several parts of India, often by Hindu and other radical religious groups opposing the spread of Christianity.