Fulani herdsmen killed a pastor and five other Christians in Nasarawa state, central Nigeria in attacks on Friday and Sunday, sources said.
In Keana County’s Kadarko area, community leader Denis Utsa said Fulani herdsmen on Friday attacked the predominantly Christian village of Tse-Abir Azer on Friday, shooting two Christians to death, including a pastor who died the subsequent day.
“The armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded the Tse-Abir Azer area of Kadarko at about 4 p.m., and other than those killed, dozens of other Christians sustained gunshot wounds,” Utsa told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in a text message. “A pastor, Kingsley Orshase, who was shot and injured by the terrorists, was conveyed to a hospital in Lafia on Saturday but died on the hospital as a consequence of the fatal wounds he sustained.”
On Sunday the assailants killed 4 Christian farmers within the Kadarko area in a second round of attacks, he said.
“The death toll now stands at six Christians killed within the two days of attacks,” Utsa said. “The terrorists also invaded a camp housing displaced Christians, forcing them to flee to Kadarko and Giza towns within the Keana Local Government Area. Some of those displaced Christians sustained life-threatening injuries, they usually’re being treated in some hospitals.”
Ramhan Nansel, spokesperson for Nasarawa State Police Command, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that officers have been deployed to the realm to curtail attacks.
Nigeria remained the deadliest place on the planet to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for his or her faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, in line with Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in another country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in variety of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings equivalent to hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, in line with the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, because it was within the previous yr.
Numbering within the hundreds of thousands across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise a whole lot of clans of many alternative lineages who don’t hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.
“They adopt a comparable technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and show a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they consider herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.
