Thirty-three Nigerians slaughtered in mass killing by Fulani herdsmen
Armed Fulani herders launched a series of attacks during a twenty-four-hour curfew in a predominantly Christian area in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, killing about thirty-three people and burning down dozens of homes, according to reports.
While police said Fulani gunmen killed twenty-one villagers, local community leaders put the death toll, in the attacks on five villages at thirty-three, according to AFP.
The attacks took place in the Atyap Chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area last Wednesday and Thursday, according to the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which said armed men travelling in trucks killed six people and burned twenty homes in the Apiashyim village, and killed seven further people in the village of Kibori.
The Fulani men then attacked the Atakmawei community, killing twelve people and burning down ten homes. Later, they killed three people in the village of Apyiako and five in the village of Magamiya, while burning down several houses in both locations, CSW said.
Fulani herders routinely attack predominantly Christian farming communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. While some believe the nomadic herders launch attacks as they look for grazing pastures, the radicals are known for targeting Christian villages in a similar manner as the Boko Haram terror group that terrorises the northern regions of the country.
In a special report, titled “Nigeria: A Killing Field of Defenseless Christians,” released earlier this year, the Anambra-based nongovernmental organisation International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law estimated that about 11,500 Christians had been killed in Nigeria since 2015 by Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, and highway bandits.
Source: christianpost.com
