Muslim Terrorists Kill Two Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria
The assailants invaded Gonin Gora, a predominantly Christian village in Chikun County, southern Kaduna State, the night of Feb. 28, area residents said.
The assailants invaded Gonin Gora, a predominantly Christian village in Chikun County, southern Kaduna State, the night of Feb. 28, area residents said.
Dozens of other Christians were wounded in the attacks, she said.
Jedidiah John, another resident of the area, also reported the deaths of the two Christians, saying, “About 11 houses were broken into by the terrorists. An unspecified number of Christian residents were also abducted and taken to an unknown place.”
Resident Sunday Audu said the “Muslim bandits” attacked at about 11 p.m. and did not leave until the early morning of Feb. 29.
Police confirmed the attack on the Gonin Gora community and said security personnel were deployed to the area to curtail the ongoing attacks there.
“The Kaduna state government has directed security agencies to deploy their personnel to the area as soon as possible to repel the attackers,” Aruwan said.
Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in the number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings, such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most challenging to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as in the previous year.
Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views. Still, 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 strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have stated that they think the motive behind herders’s attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is their desire to extort Christians’ lands and impose Islam because desertification has made it difficult for them to support their herds.
