The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) has just been informed that 50 or more Christians in Henno, Ethiopia, were brutally attacked on 20 July by 7 Muslim leaders.

ICC said the latest attack was just one example of the increasing violence against Christians in Ethiopia and that Muslim leaders in the area were urging fellow Muslims to kill any full-time Christian evangelists.

The situation has reached such intensity that Christian leaders are in fear and moving in pairs to ward off attacks, said ICC, who also reported that local Muslim have authorities failed to take action against the Muslim attackers.

Henno is located in the district of Kokosa of the Oromia region, 404 kilometres South of Addis Ababa.

Tensions between Muslims and Christians in the region intensified after two prominent Muslims in Henno converted to Christianity in 2005 - "H," a well known Muslim leader, and "M," the son of a well-respected Muslim tribal leader.

Muslims in the region were further angered when on 20 July, 2006, "M" hosted a worship service for the other Christians in Henno and invited a choir from the Sidama region.

The worship service gained the attention of the whole village, including Muslim leaders who responded violently by instigating a riot using gangs in the area. The gangs were carrying local weapons such as knives, stones, and metal rods.

The new believer and former Muslim leader, "H," refused to stop the service despite their pressure from the Muslim leaders who demanded the expulsion of the choir from the area.

Consequently, the crowd began to beat "H" and other Christians in the house with their weapons.

"H" was beaten badly, receiving five deep wounds to his head. Because he was beaten with an iron rod, he was also missing teeth. He suffered deep lacerations to his legs, where several ligaments protruded from the skin. "H's" daughter-in-law was pregnant at the time but lost her baby because she was also severely beaten, ICC reported.

In total, twelve people were seriously injured; five others were found to have lacerations on their body and received medical treatment in Shashamene Kuyera Hospital. "H" also received care and has recovered from the attack.

The Christians reported the riot to the district government administrative office, which took no legal action.

Instead, the officers warned Christians not to worship in a region that is predominately Muslim. ICC said it was important to note that all officers who heard the case were in fact Muslim.

The case was then taken to a higher police authority. The police responded by arresting 26 gang members. However, they were released quickly because tribal elders appealed to the government.

In the following weeks there was some positive news, however, as many Muslims denounced the actions taken against the Christians and some even refused to go to the mosques as an expression of their disgust.

In fact, forty-seven key leaders became Christians and renounced Islam stating, "If Islam means killing innocent brothers and sisters - we do not want to follow it!"

Please pray for the Christians in Henno, Ethiopia who are in need of the support of Christians around the world as they face continuous persecution from Muslim leaders who want to "annihilate" them, ICC said.

ICC encourages all concerned parties to contact their Ethiopian embassies and respectfully express concern that the freedom of Christians in Ethiopia is not being sufficiently protected.

For more persecution news from International Christian Concern see their website at www.persecution.org