Insurgents on motorcycles rode into the town of Arbinda on Christmas Eve, killing at least 35 civilians in an hourslong attack. Security forces in the northern Soum province responded by killing at least 80 of the attackers. An ambush on Christmas Day left at least 11 soldiers in an army patrol dead in the same province.

On the first day of December, about 10 gunmen stormed the SIM Evangelical Church of Hantoukoura in eastern Burkina Faso during Sunday service. They sprayed gunfire inside the church and killed 14 people, including the pastor.

In a statement, the Federation of Evangelical Churches and Missions (FEME) condemned the latest of the recurring attacks and called on Christian organizations to engage in the fight for peace.

About 100 Islamist militants ambushed an army camp and killed 71 soldiers in western Niger. The three-hour assault was the deadliest terror attack on Nigerien forces in years. About a dozen other soldiers sustained injuries during the overnight assault, army spokesman Col. Boukar Hassan said on Wednesday.

The man behind Friday’s stabbing on London Bridge was part of an educational program for violent offenders at Cambridge University. Usman Khan went on the stabbing rampage while attending an anniversary celebration for the program in London. Authorities convicted Khan of plotting two insurgent attacks in London back in 2012 and released him in December 2018. He killed Jack Merritt, the coordinator of the Learning Together program, and Cambridge graduate Saskia Jones.

A man who police said was wearing a fake explosive vest stabbed several people Friday near London Bridge, killing two. Several bystanders tackled the suspect before police arrived and fatally shot the man. The Metropolitan Police is treating the stabbings as a terrorist attack and initially said “a number” of people were wounded. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said several victims were in serious condition.

Did the suspect act alone? The mayor said police were not seeking anyone else related to the attack.

QAMISHLI, SYRIA—Two long tents straddle the street in this Kurdish neighborhood near the home of Amer Mohamed Said Berlan, a 25-year-old business owner killed in a car bombing on Nov. 11. The mourners have been coming all day and from across the city to pay their respects. The women sit in clusters on the floor of one tent, children in their laps and talking low. In another, the men sit in chairs in rigid lines, smoking and talking. A boy weaves in and out, serving cups of water.

Away from the front lines of an ongoing offensive by Turkey against Syrian forces, terror attacks struck at the heart of northeast Syria’s beleaguered civilians, targeting Christians. 

Two suicide bombings on Monday exploded in Qamishli, a city jointly patrolled by the semi-autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian army.