By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) - Christians were grieving Tuesday after two believers were reportedly killed in an attack on a church service in Nigeria’s southern Kaduna state.
Sunday’s violence by suspected Islamic fighters came after eight people were slain in October assaults on mainly Christian villages, sources said.
The October 31 attack on Baptist worshippers in Kakau Daji village of Chikun County also involved the kidnapping of dozens of Christians from the Sunday service, church leaders added.
“Two Christians were killed in the church during the morning worship service,” said Ishaya Jangado, president of the Kaduna Baptist Convention, in published remarks.
“Many many others were taken away at gunpoint by the armed Fulani herdsmen,” he added, referring to the Islamic fighters.
Earlier in the Jankasa village of Zangon Kataf County, Fulani herdsmen reportedly killed four Christians and wounded three others.
POLICE COMMISSIONER
Samuel Aruwan, commissioner of Internal and Home Affairs for Kaduna state, identified those killed as Luka Nelson, Timothy Koni, Pasi Peter, and George Francis, Christian sources said.
Those injured by gunshot wounds and receiving hospital treatment were named Daniel Dauda, Extra James, and Henry Frances.
Previously on October 24 in Ungwan Taila village of Zangon Kataf County, herders also killed two Christians, and many were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds, residents said.
The attack came after violence in Lisuru Gida village, also in Zangon Kataf County, where armed herdsmen on October 11 killed a Baptist pastor and another believer, residents said.
Villager Yakubu Luka said in a text message that the “pastor stood his ground by refusing to renounce his Christian faith, even when he knew it would cost him his life.”
Luka told Christian news agency Morning Star News that the pastor “was killed alongside a church member. There’s no doubt that it is worth dying for Jesus Christ.”
MORE ATTACKS
The killings are part of mounting attacks by fighters in several areas of Nigeria, often inspired by Islamist groups.
On September 26, gunmen killed 35 people in two separate attacks on churches in Nigeria’s Kaduna State, Christians said.
While the government claims to condemn the attacks, Christian leaders say authorities appear reluctant to increase protection to churches in volatile regions.
Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the umbrella group Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the government failed to stop “atrocities.”
“Christians are being killed without respite, and the government exhibits carelessness in tackling these monsters,” Hayab said. “These evil people have troubled us for too long.”