JOS, Nigeria, March 19, 2019 (Morning Star News) – After burning a church building in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state on Thursday (March 14), Boko Haram terrorists yesterday evening attacked a Christian-majority town in neighboring Adamawa state, sources said.
Area residents said Muslim extremists of the Boko Haram insurgency last night invaded Michika, a town they had seized in September 2014 and held until Nigerian troops recaptured it at the end of January 2015. The attack sent many residents fleeing into the surrounding mountains, with reports of the bombing of a bank and an as yet unknown number of casualties.
Mathew Favandzaer, chairman of the Michika Local Government Council, confirmed the attack, telling Morning Star News by phone that numbers of casualties and displaced persons were yet unknown. The Church of the Brethren has a strong presence in the town, whose greater area is estimated to comprise more than 375,000 people, including many Muslims among the Christian majority.
The Church of the Brethren sent an alert through Twitter urging members to pray for Christians in Michika: “Even as we extend caring to those affected by flooding in plains states & continue to grieve with the Muslim community in NZ, word has come of attacks on Michika, Nigeria, today. ‘Thus says the Lord God…Put away violence.’”
Adamawa State Police spokesman Othman Abubakar reportedly said he had no indication of casualties and that security agents had restored control, and a military spokesman said soldiers had repelled the assailants. But some residents told local press the terrorists killed many people as they looted houses, shot sporadically and set buildings on fire.
The attack on Michika comes ahead of supplementary governorship election on Saturday (March 23), one of 14 local governments to do so.
Area resident Zakaria Dauda told Morning Star News in a text message that the return of Boko Haram, which is affiliated with the Islamic State, struck fear in people struggling to recover from the 2014 occupation.
“This is a trying moment for us,” Dauda wrote. “Our God, who has never failed us as a people, will not abandon us now. He will definitely show Himself mighty again!”
The head of a Non-Governmental Organization working among displaced victims of Boko Haram attacks in northeastern Nigeria issued pleas on Facebook.
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Source: Christian Headlines
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