Militant Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists attacked Angwan Aku village on Christmas day 2022, and reportedly killed one person and abducted 53 others. A Catholic Priest in the West African country revealed that Dozens of abductees are still being held in captivity.
In the report, an eyewitness is quoted as telling Morning Star News: “The church worship service was about to commence when the attackers arrived at the village riding on motorbikes and shooting sporadically.”
“They killed one Christian and kidnapped 53 other Christians who are still held captive,” he said.
Father Justine John Dyikuk, in an interview with ACI Africa, confirmed the 25 December attack, saying: “We got the sad news of the Christmas Day attack on Angwan village with dozens kidnapped and one person killed.”
“As we speak now some dozens are still in captivity while a few managed to escape back to the village,” Dyikuk said on 10 January.
Confirming the attacks on the two Nigerian villages, Dyikuk told ACI Africa: “Eyewitness on the ground confirmed to me that on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022, not fewer than 40 people were killed; many were injured, over 102 houses and harvested grains were burnt down, and many were displaced in Mallagum 1 and Sakong communities, in the Southern Kaduna area of Nigeria.”
“The terrorists had sophisticated weapons,” the Nigerian Catholic priest told ACI Africa.
He went on to highlight some of the reasons for the recurrent attacks in what is Africa’s most populous nation.
“Locals suspect that they were attacked because of three reasons: they are Christians comprising Catholics, evangelicals, and Baptists; because the assailants want to decapitate the region economically; and to scare the people of Southern Kaduna ahead of the 2023 general elections,” Dyikuk said.
Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009, which started when Boko Haram insurgency emerged with the aim of turning the West African country into an Islamic state.
Since then, the group, one of largest Islamist groups in Africa, has been orchestrating indiscriminate terrorist attacks on various targets, including religious and political groups as well as civilians.