Fulani herdsmen killed a Christian and kidnapped 4 others in Plateau state, Nigeria, on Feb. 1 after massacring greater than 10 others Jan. 27-31 in the identical state, sources stated.
Fulani herdsmen attacked Shendai village in Namu District, Qua’an Pan County at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 1, stated space resident Matthew Tegha.
“The kidnapped 4 victims had been taken away by their captors at gunpoint,” Tegha advised Christian Day by day Worldwide-Morning Star Information, with different residents, native council officers and a army spokesman corroborating the account.
In 5 days of assaults in Mangu County starting Jan. 27, Fulani herdsmen killed greater than 10 Christians in Lightlubang, Chisu and Jwakkom villages, space residents stated.
“Expensive God, please come to our assist. We’d like you right here in Mangu, Plateau State. My coronary heart bleeds,” stated Nanbam Denan in a textual content message to Christian Day by day Worldwide-Morning Star Information. “The assaults began on Monday, Jan. 27, and lasted to Friday, 31 January.”
Caleb Joseph of Lightlubang stated “Fulani bandits” killed three members of a household there, a pair and their youngster, on Jan. 31.
“The husband, spouse and their child had been attacked whereas they had been sleeping,” Joseph stated. “So additionally, two different Christians, a pair, had been killed similar to the opposite victims.”
Lightitlubang resident Moses Bankat corroborated the Jan. 31 assaults.
“Terrorists we all know to be Fulani herdsmen invaded Lighitlubang village and killed 5 Christians – a person, his spouse and a toddler, alongside one other Christian couple,” Bankat stated. “The victims had been slaughtered by the terrorists.”
On the identical day in Chisu village, herdsmen killed a whole household – husband, spouse and three kids, Joseph stated.
Bankat stated that herdsmen on Jan. 28 attacked Jwakkom village, the place different Christians had been killed.
Alfred Alabo, spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, stated officers and army personnel had been deployed to the villages and investigations started.
In neighboring Kaduna state, Lere County, a funeral for the Rev. Bitrus Saleh Africa was held on Saturday (Feb. 8) on the Evangelical Church Successful All (ECWA) church, Farfaru, after his dying by the hands of herdsmen on Feb. 5, when three different Christians additionally had been slain – the Maitala Madaki, Iliya Kasada and Ishaya Luka.
Pastor Africa had served with the ECWA in Majagada village.
The Akurmi Growth Affiliation (AKURDA) condemned the Feb. 5 killings and the kidnapping of 12 different Christians within the assault that left three others wounded.
“AKURDA strongly condemns the barbaric act of killing, injuring, and abducting harmless folks within the Majagada group,” Maigamo Yakubu, nationwide president of the affiliation, and spokesman Pius Kyauta Agaji stated in a joint assertion. “The assault, which began round midnight and prolonged into the early hours of the morning, resulted within the lack of 4 lives.”
Kidnapped within the assault had been Godiya Istifanus, 35; Completely satisfied Awaje, 14; Rachael Istifanus, 21; Agnes Yusuf, 23; Nchiye Haukuri, 26; Divine Haukuri, 14; Habila Digga, 34; Martha Ibrahim, 27; Consolation Yusuf, 29; Nahum Tanko, 40; Zakka Tanko, 30; and James Tanko, 27.
AKUDA recognized these wounded as Bawa Samaila, Thomas Bawa and Peter Maitala.
They known as on Nigerian authorities to behave decisively in rescuing the Christians kidnapped and make sure that assaults by terrorists are dropped at a halt.
“We urge the safety companies and people in energy to intervene promptly and make sure the protected launch of the kidnapped people. We additionally name for elevated safety measures to forestall future assaults,” they stated.
Nigeria remained among the many most harmful locations on earth for Christians, in line with Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Listing of the international locations the place it’s most diffiucult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for his or her religion worldwide throughout the reporting interval, 3,100 (69 %) had been in Nigeria, in line with the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence within the nation is already on the most attainable underneath World Watch Listing methodology,” the report said.
Within the nation’s North-Central zone, the place Christians are extra widespread than they’re within the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia assault farming communities, killing many lots of, Christians above all, in line with the report. Jihadist teams akin to Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), amongst others, are additionally energetic within the nation’s northern states, the place federal authorities management is scant and Christians and their communities proceed to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, in line with the report. Abductions for ransom have elevated significantly lately.
The violence has unfold to southern states, and a brand new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged within the northwest, armed with superior weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL famous. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL listing of the 50 worst international locations for Christians.
Numbering within the tens of millions throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise lots of of clans of many alternative lineages who don’t maintain extremist views, however some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the UK’s All-Occasion Parliamentary Group for Worldwide Freedom or Perception (APPG) famous in a 2020 report.
“They undertake a comparable technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and display a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian identification,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have stated they imagine herdsmen assaults on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Center Belt are impressed by their need to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it troublesome for them to maintain their herds.
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