(PHOTO: MORNING STAR NEWS/FILE)
While international media sights have been justifiably fixed on 276 girls kidnapped from Chibok, Borno state, Islamic extremists last week killed Christians in the state’s Gwoza area nearly unnoticed, as they have for more than two years.
On Borno state’s eastern border with Cameroon, as Chibok is, the Gwoza area saw Boko Haram Islamists kill at least 29 Christians on Sunday and Monday (May 25-26), sources told Morning Star News. The attacks come after a slaughter of at least 121 people in the village of Izghe in the predominantly Christian area of Gwoza on Feb. 15.
On Sunday (May 25), Boko Haram killed 21 Christians of a congregation of Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Gwoza town during a worship service, said the Rev. Moses Thliza of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN).
The next day, rebels from Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria, burned down seven churches and numerous houses in the area, Christian leaders reported. Nglamuda Ibrahim, a resident of Gwoza town, gave Morning Star News the names of seven Christians killed on Monday (May 26) in Chinene village: Bulama Dajiba, Bulama John, Haruna Wadda, Bitrus Kurma, Haruna Kwatha, Haruna Waruda, and Shaibu Galva.
“In the Monday [May 26] attack, six churches were burned, eight Christians were killed and several others seriously injured,” Ibrahim said. “We cannot count the number of houses that were burned in the villages of Chinene, Chikide, Joghode, Kaghum and in Amuda village, where one Christian was killed and several others injured.”
Also attacked, Ibrahim said, was the predominantly Christian village of Ashigashiya. He said surviving Christians from these areas have called on the Borno state government pleading for help.
“Distress calls from them have been sent to the state government, and they were all crying and calling for help,” he said. “No soldiers or policemen have gone there yet.”
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SOURCE: Morning Star News
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