The presence of militant Islamist groups in the Congo such as ISIS is complicating the work of medical personnel in combating the Ebola virus epidemic, which has been rampant for the last 40 months.

Religious leaders hope the latest peace deal will bring an end to attacks on churches and mosques.

The assailants blasted a roadside bomb at a house occupied by four nonlocal teachers in Arabia Boys Secondary School, killing two.

Following the recent killings of priests in the Central African Republic, Catholic officials worry that clergy are being targeted by armed groups for their peacemaking efforts.

On Tuesday (March 6), police detained six pastors, accusing them of conspiring to rally other clergy in defiance of the government’s shutdown orders.

"I think they have chosen Somalia because there is no central authority," Bishop Giorgio Bertin said.

“The church deplores the excessive use of force on demonstrators who were only armed with Bibles, rosaries and branches.”

In the weeks before Kenya's election on Aug. 8, ethnic tensions ran high, prompting religious leaders—Christian and Muslim—to preach for peace.

Last week, gunmen shot at a car carrying Roman Catholic Cardinal John Onaiyekan in the country’s southern Edo state.

Church leaders are concerned that the authorities have not done enough to rescue the girls.