By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) - Eighteen people have been killed in Nigeria’s, mainly Christian, southern Kaduna State by suspected Fulani Islamist militants, aid workers confirmed Tuesday.
The fighters stormed two villages in the state’s Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, said Barnabas Fund, a Christian charity.
“Nine villagers died, and several houses were destroyed in Makarau on Sunday, July 11 in an assault that began at around 5 p.m.,” the group added
Earlier, residents of Warkan were asleep when a large number of gunmen swept into the village at 2 a.m. on July 9, killing nine villagers and razing houses, Christians said. Many others were reportedly injured. “The entire village is in confusion,” added that a resident. “The destruction by the suspected Fulani is unbelievable.”
The attacks were condemned by the Congress of Northern Nigeria Christians (CNNC) group. It urged the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari and State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to protect people from the “incessant killings.”
The CNNC also expressed concern about increased kidnappings in the region, including the July 5 abductions of scores of pupils from Bethel Baptist High School.
GROWING INSECURITY
In a statement, the CNNC said: “the growing insecurity” has made it almost impossible for farmers to go to their farms. The group stressed that it is tough for people “to go about their daily lives thereby increasing poverty in the land and making an already bad situation worse.”
CNNC asked prayers “for God’s intervention.” It added, “We are calling on the good people of Nigeria and the Christian body as a whole to please rise and pray for God’s intervention.”
The CNNC stressed it was crucial “to touch the hearts of those that have given themselves to killings, kidnapping, rape, maiming and the destruction of properties to have a rethink and stop.”
Barnabas Fund told Worthy News that Zangon Kataf Local Government Area “has been plagued” by suspected Fulaniu extremists. “In November 2020, the community leader of a predominantly Christian village was killed alongside his teenage son in Mazaki.”
Separately, Barnabas Fund said at least 33 people were killed in attacks on five Christian communities in August last year.
Only one month earlier, a pastor lamented that “it is as if the lives of Christians no longer matter.” The pastor spoke after a series of attacks that claimed 32 Christian lives.