Seventeen people were killed and a further 39 injured in a bomb attack at a Pentecostal church in Kasindi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, on January 15. The government blamed the attack on the 8th Community of Pentecostal Churches of Congo on an Islamist militant group with ties to Islamic State.

World Council of Churches general secretary the Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay condemned the attack, saying: “The ability to worship freely and without fear is at the very core of the fundamental human right to religious freedom. This right was brutally violated in Kasindi in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday January 15 2023 when a group linked to the so-called ‘Islamic State’ detonated a bomb during a church service.

“We pray for the bereaved families and community, and for the wounded. We denounce this despicable attack, the perpetrators of which must be apprehended and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”