by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - At least 50 Christians were murdered in Nigeria’s Benue state last week during an attack on their villages by Fulani jihadist herdsmen and a criminal gang, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
On Thursday, August 8, Fulani terrorists and affiliated bandits raided the predominantly Christian village of Ayati village in Ukum County, Benue, and there committed a massacre, MSN reports.
“Officials who found 30 corpses said the toll was likely higher as many other villagers were taken to outlying areas and were likely killed, while two area residents said at least 50 Christians were slain in the attack,” MSN said in its report.
While religious rights advocates, including the US State Department’s Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), have consistently raised the alarm about genocidal activity by Islamic terror groups against Nigeria’s Christians, the country continues to see more believers killed each year for their faith than in all other nations put together.
“Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023,” MSN notes in its report, citing the most recently available statistics from the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization.
Ruled by an Islamist government that has done little to protect the country’s Christians against ongoing slaughter by Fulani and other Islamic terrorists, Nigeria ranks 6 on Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.