by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
ABUJA (Worthy News) – More evidence has emerged of massacres targeting predominantly Christian communities in central Nigeria, with local officials saying at least 25 people were killed in an overnight attack on a village in Plateau State.
Suspected armed Muslim men stormed Bin-Per community in the Mangu Local Government Area in the early hours of Tuesday, August 18, moving from house to house and attacking residents with machetes, according to Christian sources. Investigators confirmed details of the attack. Women and children were said to account for most of the victims.
Community representatives said 24 Christians were buried following the attack, while three other wounded residents remained hospitalized. Resident Muftwan Yamput told France’s AFP news agency that he and his family “survived by a whisker,” but said two neighbors were killed inside their home.
The Plateau State Government confirmed violence had occurred and condemned the attack but did not identify those responsible. Governor Caleb Mutfwang ordered security agencies to increase surveillance and patrols in Bin-Per, Kombun District, and other vulnerable communities.
The killings were the latest in a series of attacks affecting mainly Christian farming communities across Plateau and neighboring states, where churches, homes and farmland have repeatedly come under attack.
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES MOURN
Jonathan Kyesmang, president of the Mwaghavul Youth National Association, said during the burial ceremony that his people had historically lived peacefully alongside different ethnic communities. He stressed that those blamed locally for recent attacks did not represent all Fulani people, who are predominantly Muslim.
However, he alleged that some of the violence was linked to efforts to seize ancestral lands, an accusation repeatedly made by Christian communities affected by attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
The latest massacre followed several violent incidents in the area, including the killing of two herders and a suspected reprisal attack on the nearby village of Maitimbe, where homes were reportedly burned.
Elsewhere in Plateau State, a Christian carrying his Bible to a Sunday worship service was shot dead August 9 in Fann village, Barkin Ladi County, according to residents and Christian sources.
“The man clutching his Bible was on his way to the church for the Sunday morning worship service when he was shot dead,” resident Clara John told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News service which attributed the killing to suspected Fulani herdsmen.
CHRISTIANS KILLED IN PLATEAU
Days earlier, armed men reportedly attacked the home of a Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) pastor in Kuk village, killing his son. The Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo, a regional COCIN leader and outspoken advocate for persecuted Christians, said local civilian guards eventually forced the attackers to flee before soldiers arrived.
Christian sources said at least 16 Christians were killed in several Plateau villages between August 2 and August 12. Among the victims reported in attacks on Torok, Kum and Wereng Camp were children, including a 3-month-old baby and youngsters aged 3, 8 and 10.
The bloodshed has spread beyond Plateau. In neighboring Nasarawa State, leaders of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) recently buried 48-year-old church youth leader Filibus Usman Kuje after he was reportedly ambushed while returning from a church program.
“We earnestly request that we uphold his immediate family, the Ungwan Takwa DCC, and the entire church in fervent prayers during this difficult time,” church leaders said. “May the Lord comfort and strengthen them.”
In Benue State, thousands of Christians from several denominations gathered earlier this month for the funeral of 15 Christians killed in a July 28 attack on the predominantly Christian Efeyi community, according to residents.
FUNERALS AND PRAYERS
“This is not just any other funeral, but it is the burial of dreams, hopes, families and futures,” resident Orga Stephen said. “The tears shed at this funeral remind us of the urgent need for lasting peace, justice and protection for Christian communities in Nigeria.”
Nigerian authorities have rejected claims that the country’s violence is primarily driven by broader anti-Christian hostility.
Officials say much of the violence in central Nigeria involves predominantly Muslim ethnic Fulani herders and mainly Christian farming communities competing over increasingly scarce land and resources.
Desertification, population growth, disputes over grazing routes, criminality, ethnic tensions and struggles over land and mineral resources have contributed to the conflict, they add.
Christian leaders and advocacy groups, however, say those factors alone do not explain attacks in which Christian villages, churches and clergy have been specifically targeted. They have accused Islamist militants among some armed Fulani groups of seeking to drive Christians from their ancestral lands.
FULANI MILITANTS AND CHRISTIANS
The predominantly Muslim Fulani number in the millions across Nigeria and the wider Sahel and comprise hundreds of clans and communities, most of which are not involved in extremist violence.
A 2020 report by Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief said some Fulani militants had adopted radical Islamist ideology and demonstrated an intent to target Christians and “potent symbols of Christian identity.”
The violence comes amid wider concerns about the safety of Christians in Africa’s most populous nation.
More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, according to advocacy group Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List.
It said 3,490 Nigerian Christians were killed for their faith during that period—72 percent of the 4,849 Christians it recorded as killed worldwide. Nigeria ranked seventh on its list of 50 countries where it says Christians face the most severe persecution.
NIGERIA DEADLIEST FOR CHRISTIANS
Rights group Amnesty International separately estimated last year that at least 2,630 people had been killed in Plateau State during President Bola Tinubu’s first two years in office, accusing authorities of failing to adequately protect tens of thousands of people.
Besides armed Fulani militants, Christians face violence from Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and have been involved in kidnappings for ransom by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), while kidnappings for ransom have surged.
The latest killings have renewed calls from Christian leaders and local representatives for Nigeria’s government to protect vulnerable communities and prosecute those responsible.
They want to prevent another cycle of retaliatory violence in a region where exhausted churches are increasingly burying their dead while praying for peace.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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Christians Massacred In Nigeria As Middle Belt Violence Deepens
by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
ABUJA (Worthy News) – More evidence has emerged of massacres targeting predominantly Christian communities in central Nigeria, with local officials saying at least 25 people were killed in an overnight attack on a village in Plateau State.
Suspected armed Muslim men stormed Bin-Per community in the Mangu Local Government Area in the early hours of Tuesday, August 18, moving from house to house and attacking residents with machetes, according to Christian sources. Investigators confirmed details of the attack. Women and children were said to account for most of the victims.
Community representatives said 24 Christians were buried following the attack, while three other wounded residents remained hospitalized. Resident Muftwan Yamput told France’s AFP news agency that he and his family “survived by a whisker,” but said two neighbors were killed inside their home.
The Plateau State Government confirmed violence had occurred and condemned the attack but did not identify those responsible. Governor Caleb Mutfwang ordered security agencies to increase surveillance and patrols in Bin-Per, Kombun District, and other vulnerable communities.
The killings were the latest in a series of attacks affecting mainly Christian farming communities across Plateau and neighboring states, where churches, homes and farmland have repeatedly come under attack.
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES MOURN
Jonathan Kyesmang, president of the Mwaghavul Youth National Association, said during the burial ceremony that his people had historically lived peacefully alongside different ethnic communities. He stressed that those blamed locally for recent attacks did not represent all Fulani people, who are predominantly Muslim.
However, he alleged that some of the violence was linked to efforts to seize ancestral lands, an accusation repeatedly made by Christian communities affected by attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
The latest massacre followed several violent incidents in the area, including the killing of two herders and a suspected reprisal attack on the nearby village of Maitimbe, where homes were reportedly burned.
Elsewhere in Plateau State, a Christian carrying his Bible to a Sunday worship service was shot dead August 9 in Fann village, Barkin Ladi County, according to residents and Christian sources.
“The man clutching his Bible was on his way to the church for the Sunday morning worship service when he was shot dead,” resident Clara John told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News service which attributed the killing to suspected Fulani herdsmen.
CHRISTIANS KILLED IN PLATEAU
Days earlier, armed men reportedly attacked the home of a Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) pastor in Kuk village, killing his son. The Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo, a regional COCIN leader and outspoken advocate for persecuted Christians, said local civilian guards eventually forced the attackers to flee before soldiers arrived.
Christian sources said at least 16 Christians were killed in several Plateau villages between August 2 and August 12. Among the victims reported in attacks on Torok, Kum and Wereng Camp were children, including a 3-month-old baby and youngsters aged 3, 8 and 10.
The bloodshed has spread beyond Plateau. In neighboring Nasarawa State, leaders of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) recently buried 48-year-old church youth leader Filibus Usman Kuje after he was reportedly ambushed while returning from a church program.
“We earnestly request that we uphold his immediate family, the Ungwan Takwa DCC, and the entire church in fervent prayers during this difficult time,” church leaders said. “May the Lord comfort and strengthen them.”
In Benue State, thousands of Christians from several denominations gathered earlier this month for the funeral of 15 Christians killed in a July 28 attack on the predominantly Christian Efeyi community, according to residents.
FUNERALS AND PRAYERS
“This is not just any other funeral, but it is the burial of dreams, hopes, families and futures,” resident Orga Stephen said. “The tears shed at this funeral remind us of the urgent need for lasting peace, justice and protection for Christian communities in Nigeria.”
Nigerian authorities have rejected claims that the country’s violence is primarily driven by broader anti-Christian hostility.
Officials say much of the violence in central Nigeria involves predominantly Muslim ethnic Fulani herders and mainly Christian farming communities competing over increasingly scarce land and resources.
Desertification, population growth, disputes over grazing routes, criminality, ethnic tensions and struggles over land and mineral resources have contributed to the conflict, they add.
Christian leaders and advocacy groups, however, say those factors alone do not explain attacks in which Christian villages, churches and clergy have been specifically targeted. They have accused Islamist militants among some armed Fulani groups of seeking to drive Christians from their ancestral lands.
FULANI MILITANTS AND CHRISTIANS
The predominantly Muslim Fulani number in the millions across Nigeria and the wider Sahel and comprise hundreds of clans and communities, most of which are not involved in extremist violence.
A 2020 report by Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief said some Fulani militants had adopted radical Islamist ideology and demonstrated an intent to target Christians and “potent symbols of Christian identity.”
The violence comes amid wider concerns about the safety of Christians in Africa’s most populous nation.
More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, according to advocacy group Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List.
It said 3,490 Nigerian Christians were killed for their faith during that period—72 percent of the 4,849 Christians it recorded as killed worldwide. Nigeria ranked seventh on its list of 50 countries where it says Christians face the most severe persecution.
NIGERIA DEADLIEST FOR CHRISTIANS
Rights group Amnesty International separately estimated last year that at least 2,630 people had been killed in Plateau State during President Bola Tinubu’s first two years in office, accusing authorities of failing to adequately protect tens of thousands of people.
Besides armed Fulani militants, Christians face violence from Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and have been involved in kidnappings for ransom by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), while kidnappings for ransom have surged.
The latest killings have renewed calls from Christian leaders and local representatives for Nigeria’s government to protect vulnerable communities and prosecute those responsible.
They want to prevent another cycle of retaliatory violence in a region where exhausted churches are increasingly burying their dead while praying for peace.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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