Barnabas Fund contacts report that Pastor Thar Tun was kidnapped from his home in Rakhine state, Myanmar (Burma) on 13 February by Buddhist militants thought to be members of the Arakan Army (AA).
Pastor Tun, 56, who has five children, is the second pastor to be kidnapped in Myanmar in less than a month. It is thought that the pastor’s work helping refugees in his home town of Buthidaung made him a target.
On 19 January, Pastor Tun Nu, 41, was kidnapped at gunpoint in Rakhine state by militants also thought to be members of AA. He was reported killed on 1 Februar y alongside several others held captive, but his body has not been found.
At the time of Pastor Tun Nu’s abduction, witnesses described the AA as “truly brutal” and had warned that more abductions of Christians were likely because their missionary work made them a target.
