6th January, 2014
Muslim Fulani gunmen killed 15 Christians on 2nd January in an area of Kaduna state where 10 others were killed on 27th December, ending a week of violence in Nigeria in which at least 28 died.
The ethnic Fulani herdsmen killed the 15 Christians in Ambe-Madaki village, in Kaduna”s Sanga Local Government Area, in an attack that began at about 4am, sources said. On 27th December in Tattaura village of the same area, Muslim Fulanis killed 10 Christians.
In the latest assault, the Muslim Fulani gunmen shot villagers and set fire to their houses, a local resident, Yohanna Adamu, told Morning Star News by phone. He said many other Christians remained missing, and scores of others sustained injuries.
“Many of our people are missing, and more than 20 houses have been burned down,” he said. “We are all members of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ.”
On New Year”s Eve in Plateau state, Muslim Fulani gunmen at about 8:30am attacked the Christian community of Kantoma, Mangu Local Government Area, killing three members of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), residents told Morning Star News. Area resident Ulama Joseph said by phone that Muslim Fulani herdsmen carried out the attack as the Christians were preparing for New Year”s festivities.
“The attackers came from a Muslim Fulani settlement around the area,” he said, adding that the assailants beheaded one of the three Christians killed, taking the head with them as they fled. The assault has caused panic among area Christians, most of them COCIN members.
Mark Lipdo, executive director of the Stefanos Foundation, said in a text message to Morning Star News that Christian residents of Kantoma village had sent him a distress call about Muslim Fulani gunmen shooting at them.
“I received distressed calls from the villagers asking that help be rendered to them as they were being attacked by Fulani gunmen,” Lipdo said. “They said that unless that came to them, they could be exterminated completely.”
Intervention by security agents helped reduce casualties, he said.
Abu Emmanuel, a police spokesman for the Plateau State Command, confirmed the attack. “The Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed three villagers and beheaded one of them,” he told Morning Star News. “They took the man”s head away with them, leaving his lifeless body.”
The police spokesman said investigation into the attack had begun and urged residents to remain calm as security agents would provide protection.
