Bodies of Christians slain in Ayati village, Ukum County, Benue state, Nigeria on Aug. 8, 2024. (Abraham Waroh Facebook)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen teamed up with a criminal gang to attack a village in central Nigeria on Thursday (Aug. 8), killing at least 50 Christians, sources said.

Officials who found 30 corpses said the toll was likely higher as many other villagers were taken to outlying areas and were likely killed, while two area residents said at least 50 Christians were slain in the attack on the predominantly Christian village in Ukum County, Benue state.

“Suspected herdsmen militias killed over 50 Christians in Ayati village,” area resident Tivta Samuel, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in a text message. “The incident occurred at about 5 p.m.”

Another resident, Abraham Waroh, also identified the assailants as “Fulani herdsmen militias.”

The attack stemmed from the criminal elements claiming to “sell” the village farmers’ land to herdsmen, showing the herders the land and giving them money for it, according to Shima Ayati, an area resident and former candidate for governor.

Ayati reportedly said that when the herdsmen began grazing their cattle on the land, the village farmers complained to government officials.

“And the government dispatched the state security outfit who came and chased the herdsmen away and burnt their tents, which got them angry,” Ayati said, according to news outlet Vanguard. “They claimed that the bandits sold the land to them, and they went and met the bandits. So the herdsmen and bandits went to the village and carried out a massacre.”

After burning the tents and dispersing the herdsmen, security personnel left instead of remaining to guard the villagers, Ayati said.

Residents said herdsmen also attacked other predominantly Christian villages in the Ukum area in the past three months. Area resident Clement Kolough said that on July 21, “Fulani bandits” shot and killed three Christians in the Sankera area.

“The Fulani bandits numbering nine rode on motorcycles, armed with guns and machetes, and attacked the people in the Sankera community, killing two adults and a boy who was 6 years old,” Kolough told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

On July 3, Fulanis attacked Ayati and Borikyo villages, killing 11 Christians, residents said.

Catherine Anene, spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, confirmed Thursday’s attack but said she was waiting for more information.

“And as for other attacks you mentioned, all I can say is that activities of bandits in the three local government areas of Ukum, Logo and Kastina-Ala have been reported on a number of occasions,” Anene told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Police personnel and those of other security agencies were deployed to the affected areas, and the bandits were successfully dislodged in operations by security personnel.”

Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.

Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.

In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.

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