Source: Baptist Press, July 3, 2013
Thousands have fled their homes in northern Nigeria amid Islamic extremist attacks on Christians, partly in retaliation for the government’s state of emergency and the destruction of extremist bases.
The violence was attributed to ethnic Fulani Muslims and to the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, indicating the latter has regrouped and retaliated against Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s state of emergency and corresponding destruction in May of Boko Haram bases in the Sambisa Games Reserve in Borno.
Boko Haram is blamed for killing pastor Jacob Kwiza and attacking five Christian communities in Borno’s Mandara Hills area, Morning Star News reported. Fulani Muslims are blamed for killing Toma Vongjen, a Christian in the Wase area of Plateau State, and destroying church buildings in four villages there, the persecution monitor reported.
The thousands who fled their homes had been warned by Boko Haram to flee within a week or face death, area Christians said, the Associated Press reported.
Dinfa Lambda, a pastor in Jos, told Morning Star News whole villages have been displaced in northern Nigeria and that Christian fellowship and evangelistic outreach efforts are no longer possible.
“There are Christian villages that have been completely wiped out by these Muslim terrorists,” Lambda was quoted as saying.
» Read full story, as well as another Baptist Press story making the case that Nigerian Islamic Terrorism Transcends Religion.
» See also, Boko Haram Begs for Forgiveness, Signs Ceasefire Deal (Vanguard News) and Why Nigeria Matters (Julian Linnell, Anglican Frontier Missions).