Church elder dies after being stabbed during raid

OMDURMAN, Sudan — A church elder died April 3 from injuries sustained in a raid on an embattled Christian school in Omdurman, Sudan, sources said.

Younan Abdullah, an elder with Bahri Evangelical Church, reportedly died in a hospital after being stabbed while he and others were defending women at the Evangelical School of Sudan.

Christians had staged a protest against the attempted seizure of the school by a Muslim businessman. Police from the Omdurman Central Division along with a group supported by Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment arrived first at the school and arrested the protesters in an attempt to hand the school over to the businessman, sources said.

After the arrests about 20 men arrived at the school with knives and other weapons and began to beat the women. Several men from Abdullah’s church rushed in to help, and the attackers stabbed him and another man, who survived.

Sudan ranks fifth on Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List of countries. (MS)