Worthy Christian News > Christian Persecution > Christian Persecution - Africa > Nigeria > Nigeria: Islamic terrorists kill two Christians, kidnap six in Taraba state

Nigeria: Islamic terrorists kill two Christians, kidnap six in Taraba state

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Islamic terrorists murdered two Christians and kidnapped six others in Nigeria’s Taraba state on Sunday, as the years-long genocidal onslaught on Nigerian Christians by Muslim extremists continues unabated, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. With well over 50,000 Christians murdered since 2009, rights groups, US Open Doors, have ranked Nigeria number one in the world for Christians killed on account of their faith.

Sunday’s murders and kidnappings took place at around 2am in Taraba’s Mile Six area of Jalingo. In a statement to MSN, area resident Emmanuel Moses said: “These terrorists … killed two Christians, one Balanko Alex and his wife, while many other Christians were injured during the attack.”

Confirming the attack in a press statement, Abdullahi Usman, spokesman for the Taraba State Police Command, said: “The gunmen gained access to the house of the victims scaling over the fence,” Usman said in a press statement. “They killed the owner of the house, Balanko Alex, and his wife, and kidnapped other persons. The police command has put in place mechanisms to fast-track the arrest of the bandits and kidnappers.”

Twenty Christians were killed by Fulani herdsmen and other militants in the town Takum in Taraba state on June 25, MSN notes.

“Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery,” Open Doors reports in a website statement about the situation facing Christians in Nigeria. “This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of the nation… Nigeria’s government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians’ rights are carried out with impunity.”