Church bombed in Sudan

Missionaries who have just returned from Sudan report the African
nation's air force targeted a church during Sunday-morning worship
services, dropping eight bombs near the church and 14 on a neighboring
community.

Dr. Peter Hammond, director of Frontline Fellowship, was leading a
missionary team in southern Sudan where the group conducted evangelism
workshops. Hammond, who has made many trips to the war-torn Sudan,
wrote his eyewitness account of the bombing.

"As we walked to the church just out of town for the Sunday morning
service, we could hear the unmistakable droning sound of an Antanov
(aircraft) approaching. The people were somewhat nervous as the aircraft
circled the town -- presumably for reconnaissance," he wrote. "We
continued to walk to church, and as we gathered and began singing in the
church we could hear bombs exploding. Rushing outside and looking into
the distance we could plainly see the Antonov flying over a settlement
12 miles away. It made 3 bombing runs over that community, dropping 14
bombs. (We were scheduled to conduct a worship service later that
afternoon in the settlement being bombed.) We prayed for the people
being bombed, then we read Psalm 91 in the church."

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Parishioners at the Sudanese church dive for cover from falling bombs.

As the congregation finished reading the passage, parishioners heard
the aircraft coming in their direction and began evacuating the
building.

"As I stepped outside the church," wrote Hammond, "I heard the
terrible screaming sound of fast approaching bombs. It was so loud that
I immediately dived to the ground and flattened myself. As I hit the
ground five bombs exploded in quick succession. The ground shook and I
saw pillars of fire and smoke erupting one after the other -- alongside
the church. The air was thick with acrid-smelling smoke and flying
debris. As I lay on the ground I could distinctly hear the thud of
shrapnel and pieces of branches and debris hitting the ground."

The first five bombs landed within 300 feet of the church, the
closest of which was less than 150 feet away. The church is the only
structure in the area, indicating it was the target of the attack.

Peter Hammond and two other members of the congregation hold up pieces of shrapnel which landed near where they were crouching.

The team of missionaries and the congregation huddled into a bomb
shelter and waited for the second pass of the aircraft..

"Looking up I could clearly see the Antonov directly overhead. My
heart seemed to stop as I then saw 3 bombs hurtling straight down on top
of our position. The screeching sound of the falling bombs grew ever
louder. The Antonov was still plainly visible at about 12,000 feet above
us. The 3 bombs were almost on top of us. ... I knew that the bombs
would either land on top of us or very close by. There didn't seem to be
any way to escape injury or death. The sound of the rushing wind was so
loud and the whistling sound was reaching a crescendo when the bombs
started hitting the ground and exploding right next to where we were
crouched."

According to Hammond, three bombs dropped on the aircraft's second
pass -- one landing within 60 feet of the huddled missionaries and
dispersing dirt and shrapnel over the entire area. Amazingly, no one
was killed in the raid.

Worshippers reoccupied the church after the raid ended and continued their service.

The attack is the latest in an ongoing, bloody civil war that has
plagued Sudan -- Africa's largest country -- for decades and is linked
to the nation's oil industry. The fundamentalist group National Islamic
Front has controlled Khartoum, the capital, since 1989. Since that time,
the group has funded slave trade of the Dinkas, a cattle-herding,
Christian tribe in south Sudan, Muslims and other resisters of the
Islamic regime.

The government obtains its funding largely due to investments in the
nation's oil resources.

The primary interest-holding nation in
Sudan's oil industry is China. Human rights groups have vigorously protested such investments by China and other countries, including the United States.

Several human rights groups and activists formed a coalition over the summer to coordinate their efforts encouraging U.S. companies and governmental entities to divest their Sudanese oil interests. The Sudan Campaign includes various organizations, such as

Christian
Solidarity International,

Congress on
Modern Pan-African Slavery, African American Women's Clergy Association, the

American
Anti-Slavery Group and the Washington, D.C., branch of the American Jewish Committee, as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Christian Solidarity International has been at the forefront of slave "redemption" activities. As reported in WorldNetDaily, the group purchases freedom for captured Sudanese people -- a controversial practice opposed by the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.

The coalition celebrated

"National Sudan Day" on June 9 to cap off an intensive three-week lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., to gain support for an end to genocidal activities against resisters of the country's Islamic fundamentalist regime.

While the church attack reveals the extreme measures taken by the Islamic nationalists against Christians and other rebels, it is only the latest in a series of horrifying attacks, one of which was against a school.

On Thursday, March 23, eyewitnesses saw a Russian-made MU2 Antonov aircraft, with Sudanese government markings, make six

bombing runs
over the grounds of the Christian Liberty Academy in Western Equatoria, dropping one or two 250-pound shrapnel bombs at a time. No fatalities were reported. More than 100 high school-age students from the Moru tribe are enrolled in the just-completed boarding school facility, which is sponsored and financed by the Christian Liberty Academy of Arlington Heights, Ill., a 910-student school on the edge of Chicago. Students, parents and others were making final preparations at the school when they were attacked.

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