A series of attacks by a Muslim clan on Christians in Nigeria has left 45 people dead and many injured, Express UK reports.
The Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen were responsible for the coordinated attacks in five villages across the central belt of the West African nation – an area mostly populated by Christians. More than 120 buildings, including eight churches, were burned to the ground. Most of the victims were women, children and elderly people.
“They laid siege to the village before they started shooting sporadically and throwing explosives at our homes. They were armed with guns, knives, machetes and explosives,” recalled Samuel Adamu, a resident of one of the attacked villages.
Rev. Zachariah Gado, chairman of a local group of evangelical churches, said, “There have been increasing indications of the existence of a desperate, well-funded, organised and executed campaign not only to make life unbearable for the entire southern Kaduna territory through threats, intimidation and psychological warfare, but also to occupy the land through what can only be described as ethno-religious cleansing by Fulani herdsmen militia.”
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said the government is not doing enough to end the “genocidal” killings in the state, according to The Cable.
Rev. Samson Supo Ayokunle, president of CAN, said the government must protect the welfare of all its citizens, and the call for government’s intervention was not about politics or religion. “Many of them can no longer live in their communities, 32 people were recently given mass burial. Whoever is killed, whether Christian or Muslim, deserve not to be killed in this country,” he said.
Rev. Chawangon Nathan disclosed that “102 people had so far been killed while about 215 sustained various degree of injuries. 50, 000 houses burnt in 25 villages, over 10,000 displaced and over 30,000 hectares of land destroyed deliberately by Fulani.”
Sources:
Rehema figueiredo. (2016). Expresscouk. http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/735784/Ethnic-cleansing-attacks-Muslim-clan-Christians-45-dead-scores-injured
Thecableng. (2016). TheCable. https://www.thecable.ng/can-buhari-el-rufai-kaduna-killings-genocide
Allafricacom. (2016). Allafricacom. http://allafrica.com/stories/201611240870.html
