Gotta watch out for those "herdsmen." "Two Small Children Among Four Christians Slain in Plateau State, Nigeria; 'Muslim Herdsmen' Likely Killers," from Morning Star News, November 15:
JOS, NIGERIA – Gunmen who killed four family members in their home in Plateau state this month, including 2-year-old and 4-year-old boys, were likely Muslim herdsmen, church leaders said.
In Rantis village, 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Jos, the suspected ethnic Fulani Muslims launched a guerilla attack on a home at about 7 p.m. on Nov. 4 (not the wee hours of Nov. 5 as Nigerian newspapers reported), pastors said. Killed were Joel Pam, 50; his wife, Jemimah Pam, 40; and two of their children, 2-year-old Jephtah and 4-year-old Joseph, said the Rev. Dacholom Datiri of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN).
"These attacks are on the increase as they are being carried out against our church members almost on a daily basis, and the security personnel seem helpless in checking them," Datiri told Morning Star News.
The victims belonged to Datiri's church. The couple's two surviving children, 10-year-old Susannah and 15-year-old Alfa, were wounded in the attack. Both of them are receiving treatment at Jos University Teaching Hospital, he said.
Capt. Salisu Mustapha of the Nigerian Army, and a spokesman for the Special Task Force created to help prevent such attacks, confirmed the raid.
"Yes, we received a distress call from that community and we sent out security personnel there to contain the situation," Mustapha said.
The assault on Rantis village took place after a similar attack occurred in Gyel village, near Jos, on Nov. 2, when Muslim Fulani gunmen carried out a night-long attack on Christians, though no lives were lost, sources said.
Davou Pam, pastor of the local COCIN congregation in the area, told Morning Star News that the assailants were Muslim Fulani herdsmen.
"They [Christian villagers] sent distress calls to me that night pleading that we inform security agencies about their plight," said Pastor Pam of the COCIN congregation in Gura Dabwam, two kilometers from Gyel. "We thank God that some vigilantes were able to rush there to assist the members of the community, and so no life was lost in the attack."
Christians believe Islamic extremist groups have increasingly incited Fulani Muslims to attack them in Plateau state as well as in Kaduna, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Benue states. They fear that Fulani herdsmen, with backing from Islamic extremist groups, want to take over the predominantly Christian areas in order to acquire land for grazing, stockpile arms and expand Islamic territory....
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