NIGERIA – Three Christians killed in night raid on Jos village

Suspected Fulani militants killed three Christians and injured one other in a night raid on a village near Jos in Plateau state.

The attack on Kwata Zawan last week brings to 540 the number of Christians killed in the Jos area since early March, according to Release partner Stefanos Foundation.

Eyewitnesses told Stefanos Foundation that a band of about ten gunmen dressed in animal-skin jackets and with blackened faces raided Kwata Zawan just after 10pm on November 25. One villager, Sonshak Amos, who ran into the gunmen outside the village, narrowly escaped being attacked with a cutlass and was able to raise the alarm just before the shooting started.

Two men, Iliya Gya and James Gya, were shot dead in their homes, and another, named only as Alfred, was also killed. The village leader Julius Gya, whose brother was among the dead, was shot in the arm.

'Because we were unarmed, we were so scared to come out,' villager David Haruna Samson told Stefanos. 'When everything went calm, we came out and found out that three people were killed.'

Stefanos Foundation, which is supporting survivors, has expressed concern that a nearby military post did not intervene, despite villagers raising the alarm. It is also concerned that perpetrators of other recent attacks on Christian communities have still not been brought to justice.

(Source: Stefanos Foundation)

• Ask God to comfort and strengthen villagers in Kwata Zawan as they come to terms with the violent assault on their community.
• Pray that politicians and military leaders will take resolute steps to protect vulnerable Christian communities in the Jos area, a flashpoint for anti-Christian violence.




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