When Freddy Wuisan answered a knock on the door on March 30, gunmen burst into his home and shot him in front of his wife. Wuisan was a pastor in Membuke, about fifty kilometres west of Poso, Indonesia. Six hours earlier, Rosia Pilongo, the dean of the school of law at Sintuwu Maroso University in Poso, was shot and wounded as she walked towards her car. At last report, she was still unconscious with serious gunshot wounds to her head and hand. Eyewitnesses report seeing two men on a motorcycle in connection with each attack, but there is no evidence yet to link the two incidents.
Three days earlier, a Christian man, Jhon Christian Tanalida, was also shot and killed in Poso's Kawua area. No further information is available at this time.
With elections planned for April, there is fear that violence against Christians in this volatile region of Indonesia may escalate. As many as one thousand people were killed in sectarian violence in Poso in 2000 before a peace agreement was reached.
Pray that incidents such as these will not be a catalyst for more violence and that Christians in the area will not retaliate. Pray for healing and strength for the Wuisan's wife and other family members of those shot, as they grieve their loss. Pray for fair and peaceful elections in Indonesia.
For more information on the situation facing Christians in Indonesia, click here.
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