Fulani militants reportedly went on a rampage from Oct. 1-5, killing six Christians and leaving several others wounded during attacks on multiple villages in Nigeria’s Plateau State.
International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that the herdsmen also destroyed farmland worth millions of dollars.
“I received a distressed call from the local zone chairman that, while they were in their place of worship that morning, it came to their notice that Fulani pushed their herds on the farm and grazed eight hectares of soybean crop,” said farm manager Paul. “I assessed what happened to be deliberate, because if it was not well planned it would have been impossible to destroy eight hectares of farmland within that short of a period.”
An ICC farm in Nigeria was attacked as part of a series of attacks in the last week that left six dead and three wounded. Read more here: https://t.co/J26FRuQVqZ
— International Christian Concern (@persecutionnews) October 7, 2021
A community leader told ICC that the attackers arrived during a church service.
“They grazed their cattle inside our farms, including the community farm,” the leader explained. “Three of our vigilantes went to stop them without knowing that the attackers came with sophisticated weapons. Sadly, three of the vigilantes who guard the farm paid the price of becoming Christians and were killed that day.”
That same community was attacked while an ICC representative was visiting. He barely escaped but two other area residents were wounded after they were hit by flying bullets.
“I would like to plea with the Nigerian leadership to wake up to their responsibility of protecting lives and properties,” added farm manager Paul.
The herdsmen killed two more Christian farmers and ambushed two others. One of the farmers survived that attack but sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was listed in critical condition.
CBN News has previously reported on the radical Fulani extremists targeting Christians.
In Kaduna state, 36 Christians were murdered during numerous attacks throughout the month of August.
“Fulani herdsmen have killed three of our Christians, and five other Christians were also injured,” area resident Judith David told Morning Star News in a text message.”It rained at the time the herdsmen invaded our village. We all had already gone to houses to sleep when the herdsmen attacked the village, forcing us to flee into the bush in the rain.”
Rev. Jacob Kwashi, Anglican bishop of Zonkwa Diocese, said the government has done nothing to correct this dire situation.
“We have never seen an evil government in this country like the one of today. The government is fully in support of the bloodshed in Nigeria. We are being killed just because we are not Muslims,” Kwashi said. “These evil Fulani jihadists are enjoying the backing of the government to go about killing people, destroying their houses and farmlands, yet when we try to defend ourselves, the government will go about arresting our people. What kind of justice is this?”
The Fulani herdsmen, also known as the Fulani militia, are often radical Muslims who target Christians in their relentless attacks on villages across the West African country.
They were early adopters of Islam, participating in holy wars, or jihads, in the 16th century that established them as a dominant social and economic force in Western Africa, according to WorldWatch Monitor.
Nigeria is ranked 9th on Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.
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