India is among top ten countries where most attacks on Christians were reported in 2019, according to an international persecution watchdog organization.

“Violence against Christians has surged globally, with data showing more than 9,000 attacks on churches in 2019,” reports Open Doors, which claims to be the world’s largest outreach to persecuted Christians in the most high-risk places.

On January 15, the Washington-based organization published its 2020 “world watch list top 10” mentioning North Korea as the worst country for persecution of Christians. India comes at the tenth place and Afghanistan the second. The others are: Somalia 3, Libya 4, Pakistan 5, Erirea 6, Sudan 7, Yemen 8 and Iran 9.

Christians, the organization says, are one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world and are oppressed in at least 60 countries.

“The data found that a startling 14,645 Christians were physically or mentally abused, with the majority of that activity occurring in India, China and sub-Saharan African countries where a myriad of jihadist groups aim to create instability,” the organization noted.

At least 8,500 Christians were raped or sexually abused for reasons related to their faith, a number that should be regarded as the tip of the iceberg, since most sexual harassment happens behind closed doors and is, therefore, more difficult to accurately track, it added.