Muslim Fulani herdsmen strike two more villages, slaughtering women and children.
LAGOS, Nigeria, March 17 (CDN) -
Less
than two weeks after a massive attack in Nigeria that killed 500
Christians, Muslim Fulani herdsmen today unleashed more horrific
violence on two Christian villages in Plateau state, killing 13
persons, including a pregnant woman and children.
In attacks presumably over
disputed property but with a level of violence characteristic of
jihadist method and motive, men in military camouflage and others in
customary clothing also burned 20 houses in Byei and Baten villages, in
the Riyom Local Government Area of the state, about 45 kilometers (29
miles) from the state capital, Jos.
Christians in neighboring
villages are living in fear of possible attacks by the herdsmen, who
have not been deterred by the joint military and police security team
enforcing curfew in the state. The ethnic Berom Christians, who live as
farmers, have long faced off with Fulani nomads who graze their cattle
on the Beroms' land.
The slaughter comes after a similar
attack on March 7 on Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Rastat, three villages in Jos
South and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas where hundreds of
villagers were struck with machetes and burned to death.
"The
assailants armed with dangerous weapons attacked the two communities
simultaneously at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday, March 17," Brig. Gen.
Donald Oji said in a press statement, adding that timely deployment of
troops averted further carnage. "Seven of the assailants have been
arrested, while troops are still on the trail of more of them. Items
recovered from the assailants include three locally made short guns
with cartridges, bow and arrows, machetes, knives and cutlasses."
State
Gov. Jonah Jang condemned the killings, alleging that some unnamed
persons were fueling misunderstanding among communities in conflict.
Because the style of killing is typical of jihadist fundamentalists,
Christian leaders suspect Islamic extremists are encouraging the
attacks, throwing religious gas on low-burning land and ethnic
conflicts.
Dalyop Nyango Mandung, a survivor of the attack
whose 90-year-old mother, Ngo Hwo Dongo, was killed in her room, told
newsmen that the villagers were awakened by gunshots from the Muslim
herdsmen who were barricading their houses. Mandung, however,
distinguished the assailants in military fatigues from the Fulani
herders.
"We saw them in military uniforms, about two of them
were in military uniform and the Fulani were in their normal clothes,"
Mandun reportedly said. "My mother was the only one killed in the
family."
Another survivor, Kachollom Pam Dauda, who is
pregnant, told Nigerian media that she was lucky to have escaped the
killers. She also described the men in military uniform as distinct
from the herders, saying, "The killers came and first shot, and the
Fulani were machete-ing people."
"I climbed the roof of the
house and held to the wood," she reportedly said. "It was painful more
so that I am pregnant. I saw the killers kill my two sisters-in-law,
Chundung and Kangyang - they could not escape. I saw as they were being
butchered and slain."
Dauda said she dared not make any movement that would attract the attention of the killers.
"After
they killed my sisters-in-law, they sat at the back of our house and
were saying they would still come back in two days to finish us in the
village," she reportedly said. "I saw two soldiers. They were speaking
English and were saying, "Come let's go.' The Fulanis were more than 20
in number. When they left, my husband's uncle, Yohanna, came crying
saying, ‘They have killed people in the next compound.'"
In
the March 7 attack, the ethnic Berom victims also included many women
and children killed with machetes by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. About
75 houses were burned. State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong
confirmed that about 500 persons were killed in the attacks.
Christian leaders said that in the March 7 attack, eyewitnesses said the Fulani Muslims were chanting "Allah Akbar" as they broke into homes and slashed men, women and children.
Gov. Jang said word of the new attacks challenged everyone's strength to endure.
"It
gets to a stage when one remains strong, but when you receive the news
of fresh attacks, you get broken before you recover again," he said. "I
have total faith in God because I am a child of God; and because I know
there is nothing that happens that God is not aware particularly when
it happens to His children. I have talked to God that whatever sin we
have committed on the Plateau He should have mercy on us."
END
