Fifty members of a northern Nigerian church were burned to death in their pastor’s house.
The attack by armed gunmen was only the first in a 12-village spree
of violence that left over 100 dead in northern Nigeria’s Plateau State,
a region that had previously been outside Islamic terrorist group Boko
Haram’s operational area and is the largely Muslim Fulani tribesmen’s
homeland.
Yet Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks and threatened even more violence.
Open Doors, USA spokesman
Jerry Dykstra says the recent wave of attacks is rapidly turning Nigeria
into a deadly religious battlefield, where Boko Haram is declaring
Christians must convert … or die.
“Nigeria is truly becoming the new killing field for Christians.
Hundreds of Christians have already been brutally murdered – including
women and children – by the Boko Haram,” Dykstra said. “The Boko Haram
earlier this week said that all Christians need to turn to Islam or
‘they would never know peace again.’ Their goal is make all of Nigeria a
country run and dominated by Shariah law.”
Church of Christ of Nigeria officials report that all of their
denomination’s church buildings were burned to the ground in the 12-town
rampage.
Plateau State is home to the nomadic and largely Muslim Fulani
tribesmen, the group that some Nigerian security officials say was
originally blamed for the attack.
Nigerian criminal justice consultant Innocent Chukwuma is reported as
saying the logistics suggest that Boko Haram could not have acted
alone.
“I don’t think that Boko Haram could, out of nowhere, have raided
these villages. They couldn’t do that without local support and
collaboration,” Chukwoma said according to the report.
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