Armed terrorists raided two Christian churches during worship services in northern Nigeria Sunday, killing three and kidnapping several dozen.
The presumed Fulani Muslim raiders targeted faithful from the Maranatha Baptist Church and Saint Moses Catholic Church in the Rubu general area of the Kajuru local government area of Kaduna State.
Eyewitness to the assault Jibrin Nabata said that the attackers kidnapped some 46 persons, adding that the villagers have since vacated their residences because of the continuous attacks on their communities.
Another local witness, Usman Danladi, said that the Christian faithful were attending services at the Maranatha Baptist Church and at St. Moses Catholic Church on Sunday morning when assailants “just came and surrounded the churches.”
“Before they [worshippers] noticed, they were already terrorizing them; some began attacking inside the church, then others proceeded to other areas,” Danladi said, noting that “most of the victims kidnapped are from the Baptist [church], while the three killed were Catholics.”
According to Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna State’s commissioner for internal security and home affairs, the assailants stormed several villages on motorcycles, and in Rubu village “attacked worshippers in the Maranatha Baptist Church and St. Moses Catholic Church.”
“Three locals have been confirmed killed in the attacks. They are identified as Peter Madaki (ward head of Ungwan Fada), Elisha Ezekiel (resident of Ungwan Fada), Ali Zamani (youth leader of Rubu),” Aruwan said.
“Two persons were left injured in the attacks: one Aniro Mai, and a yet-unidentified woman,” he added. “An unspecified number of locals were also kidnapped, according to the received reports.”
“The bandits looted shops and carted away some valuables from the villages,” Aruwan said.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) denounced Sunday’s attacks, lamenting that Christian churches in Nigeria have become regular targets of such assaults.
“It is very unfortunate that when we are yet to come out of the mourning of those killed in Owo two Sundays ago, another one has happened in Kaduna,” said Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, CAN spokesman.
(Graphic content) / Ondo State governor Rotimi Akeredolu (3rd L) points to the blood-stained floor after an attack by gunmen at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo town, southwest Nigeria, on June 5, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)
Oladeji was referring to a massacre of scores of Christians on Pentecost Sunday (June 5) when presumed jihadists stormed St. Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo in southwest Nigeria Sunday and opened fire on the faithful. Just last Friday, a funeral Mass was held for the victims of the attack.
On the same day, Muslim Fulani raiders armed with AK-47 rifles carried out a second mass attack on Christians in Nigeria in the northern state of Kaduna.
A horde of well-armed, motorcycle-riding Fulani militants raided several Christian villages in the local government area of Kajuru, with a death toll of 32. They also burned one of the villages, Maikori, to the ground, local sources reported.
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