Nigeria

Concerns remained Tuesday about the whereabouts of several worshippers who were abducted Sunday when gunmen attacked the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in Nigeria’s north-central Kwara State, police said.

Suspected Islamic Fulani herdsmen have killed a pastor and abducted other Christians in northwestern Nigeria’s Kaduna state, a region marked by recurring religious and ethnic tensions, despite U.S.-backed efforts to curb extremism that has killed thousands of Christians annually, Worthy News learned Tuesday.

A growing number of Islamic militants are abandoning terrorism and turning to the Christian faith in Nigeria, one of the world’s most dangerous countries for Christians, according to a new documentary by a global mission group.

The United States is preparing to deploy roughly 200 American troops to Nigeria in the coming weeks to assist in counterterrorism efforts, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Suspected armed bandits attacked a community in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State, police said, burning a police station, torching part of a church, and abducting several residents.

Nigerian police have confirmed that a large group of Christian worshippers were kidnapped by suspected Muslim gunmen from three churches in a remote area of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State, reversing an earlier denial that authorities said had been “widely misinterpreted.”

The wife and daughter of a late Anglican priest who died in captivity have regained their freedom after nearly three months in the hands of kidnappers, as concern mounted Monday over the abductions of more than 150 worshippers in coordinated attacks on churches in northern Nigeria, officials and sources said.

Nigeria says it has provided intelligence support to the United States ahead of Christmas Day airstrikes targeting militants linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the country’s northwest, where Christians had been among those suffering from Islamic extremism.

The remaining 130 schoolchildren and staff abducted by gunmen from a Catholic school in Nigeria last month — one of the largest mass kidnappings in the country’s history — have been freed, officials confirmed.

Some 100 students have been rescued, and about 50 others escaped following Nigeria’s largest Christian school kidnappings in recent years, several sources confirmed Wednesday.