Five children from the same family were killed in a recent bombing attack on a town in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan.
According NubaReports.org, another two were injured when bombs were dropped on a crowded market and nearby house in Heiban on 16 October.
The children were in the house at the time of the attack and their aunt said their mother had been left "out of sense" with grief. The house was also completely destroyed.
The victims were named as 6-year-old Kuku James, 7-year-old Anur Jafar, 10-year-old Aziza Jafa, 14-year-old Yaya Jafar, and 16-year-old Sria Jali.
Another villager, 25-year-old Issa Majar, was killed while running for cover.
According to Open Doors, there were another three fatalities and 15 people were injured.
The Nuba Mountains lie in the South Kordofan region of Sudan, which has been the scene of aerial bombardments by the Sudanese government in recent years.
Retired Bishop of the Diocese of El Obeid, Sudan, has appealed to the Sudanese government to halt its bombing campaign following the Heiban attack.
"The bombing marked a notable increase in the indiscriminate bombing of civilians," he told reporters in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, according to the Catholic News Service.
"The gun will solve no problem and violence generates violence."
According to Nuba Reports, nearly 800 bombs were dropped in the South Kordofan region last year. Just two weeks ago, Open Doors reports government forces dropped 15 bombs on the village of Mardes.
Open Doors has written a special prayer for the people of the Nuba Mountains and also the Central African Republic, where a civil war rages and church leaders have been among recent fatalities.
Wanam Thomas, pastor of the Lutheran Brethren Church, was shot and killed by Seleka rebels as he tried to flee an attack in Nana Bakassa on bike. In Bolio, Goninga Yannick, a catechist with the Bolio Catholic Church, was killed by gunmen as he returned home from a retreat.
Open Doors' prayer is in full below:
Father, we bring before You these precious lives, snuffed out in acts of violence. We pray for their families; that they would know the tender embrace of their souls as You comfort them. We pray for Christians in the Nuba Mountains and in CAR as they reel from the trauma of these attacks. Strengthen them with the presence of Your Spirit within them. Grant them courage to face each day and wisdom to respond in ways that honor You. We pray for peace to return to these nations that have too long been beleaguered by war. We pray for total disarmament of the armed groups in CAR and for the government of Sudan to ruler her people with justice and compassion. In the midst of all these tragic circumstances, we pray for Your gospel to bring about an outpouring of Your Spirit on these lands; that a multitude might turn to Christ in repentance; that lives and governments might be transformed, and that a mighty voice of praise might be lifted up to Christ.
The video report below contains images some viewers may find distressing:
