Worthy Christian News > Christian Persecution > Christian Persecution - Africa > Nigeria > Nigeria: 21 villagers murdered by Islamic militants in Plateau state

Nigeria: 21 villagers murdered by Islamic militants in Plateau state

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Suspected Islamic Fulani extremists murdered 21 people during an attack in northern Nigeria’s Plateau state last week, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Islamic extremists, including radicalized Fulani herdsmen and members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa terror groups, have murdered over 52,000 Christians in Nigeria since 2015.

In last week’s attack, suspected Fulani militants entered the Heipang community village in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m., ICC reports. The militants opened fire on the residents, many of whom were internally displaced persons (IDP) who had escaped violence elsewhere. “This is the third armed attack on the community, which has enjoyed relative peace for years,” one community leader told ICC.

More than 100 people from the Heipang community have been killed in attacks over the years, with no arrests ever being made. “They say the government is complicit and unable to prevent the attacks – a common thread in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region that has been rocked by violence with tens of thousands of Christians killed over the past 20 years,” ICC explained in its report.

Nigeria ranks 6th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted. Since the northern states declared allegiance to Sharia (Islamic law) in 1999, this enforced Islamisation has gained momentum, by violent and non-violent means,” the US Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization explains in a website statement.  “Attacks by Islamic militant groups have increased consistently since 2015, but the government has failed to prevent the rise in violence, which affects all Nigerians, but particularly Christians.”

“The violence is most pervasive in the north, where militant groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP and Fulani militants inflict murder, physical injury, abduction, and sexual violence on their victims,” Open Doors attests. “Christians are dispossessed of their land and their means of livelihood. Many live as internally displaced people or refugees.”