3 CHILDREN DEAD IN FULANI CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN ATTACK ON NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS
Grisly photos and eyewitness accounts have emerged of the April 14 Fulani militant attacks against Christians in Plateau State Nigeria, in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown. In this latest attack, Fulani extremists murdered two five-year-old children and a three-year-old infant.
Voice of the Martyrs Korea has been gathering reports from its partners in the region. According to Representative Hyun Sook Foley, those partners have verified that armed Fulani militants shouting “Allahu akbar” [Allah is greater] surrounded Hura, a small Christian village close to Jos, the state capital, at 7PM on April 14.
“As they fired their guns, they drove the villagers out and killed them as they fled,” says Representative Foley. “One pregnant villager, Victoria John, fled with another pregnant woman, who was trying to escape with her five-year-old child. The child was screaming. She slipped and fell and they killed her.”
A mass grave contains the body of one of the children killed in the attack.
Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea partners confirm that the militants killed nine villagers. They included 50-year-old grandfather, Sunday Biri and his five-year-old grandchild, Luka; Talatu Daniel, who was pregnant, and her three-year-old baby. They were buried on April 15.
Tribal chief, Rev Ronku Aka, said,
“This killing is more dangerous than the coronavirus. It is incessant. I am calling on the government to have mercy and come to our aid.”
The attackers struck less than 25 miles from the state capital, Jos. They burned down 21 houses, forcing the villagers to flee to another community 10 miles away.
Scenes of destruction in Hura, the village where the Fulani militants burned many houses.
Representative Foley says that many thousands of Christians have been driven from their homes by the heavily armed Fulani, whose attacks are provoking an exodus of Christians from the north and Middle Belt of Nigeria. In 2015 the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) named Fulani extremists as the fourth-deadliest terror group in the world. In 2018, the GTI reported:
“Deaths attributed to Fulani extremists are estimated to be six times greater than the number committed by Boko Haram.”’
A villager carrying the body of a child after the attack.
The mass burial taking place.
Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi, from Jos, also a partner of the Voice of the Martyrs family of missions, says,
“We have been sent out like lambs, but we have a gospel worth living for and a gospel worth dying for. And that gospel cannot be burnt out or destroyed.”
A photo of deliberate fire damage.
Voice of the Martyrs Korea is currently participating in the support of 83 Christian women who were widowed as a result of Fulani and Boko Haram attacks. The widows and their children receive emergency aid as well as assistance in learning skills and establishing businesses to support themselves.
Individuals interested in donating to this effort can visit www.vomkorea.com/donate or give via electronic transfer to:
국민은행 463501-01-243303
예금주: (사)순교자의소리
Please include the phrase “Nigeria” on the donation.