Soldiers amid gunfire by Fulani militia in Dorowa Babuje, Plateau state, Nigeria on September 20, 2026. (Masara Kim, Truth Nigeria)
ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani militia attacks in one county in Plateau state, Nigeria over the weekend killed at least eight Christians, including a Baptist pastor and a church employee on their way to services on Sunday (Sept. 20), sources said.
In Barkin Ladi County south of Jos, the assailants killed the unidentified pastor and his secretary and wounded the pastor’s son in Dorowa Babuje village, according to Truth Nigeria. An area resident told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News the assailants were Fulani gunmen.
“A pastor with the Baptist Church in Maraban Kantoma area near Dorowa Babuje town was on Sunday morning, 20 September killed by Muslim Fulani terrorists,” Kara Dakup told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “He was on his way to his church when he was shot dead by the armed Fulani militiamen.”
The pastor’s son was critically wounded, according to Truth Nigeria, operated by U.S.-based aid agency Equipping the Persecuted.
A resident of nearby Fan area, Rose Istifanus, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that a Christian was killed in Rantyidi village, Fan District at the same time as the attack on Dorowa Babuje village’s Maraban Kantoma area.
The assailants attacked three nearby villages at the same time, according to Truth Nigeria. As local civilian guards tried to defend the area and evacuate residents, police, Army, and Department of State Services (DSS) personnel were present with the Army deploying gun trucks and firing anti-aircraft guns into the air, the outlet reported.
“Police and DSS personnel who attempted to confront the militants were overpowered, according to eyewitnesses,” Truth Nigeria stated. “At least one DSS officer was injured and a police armored vehicle was damaged.”
Residents fleeing Mararabar Kantoma on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 20) told Truth Nigeria the attackers had seized control of all major roads, cutting off escape routes.
On Saturday evening (Sept. 19) Fulani militia ambushed and killed five Christians in Gana-Ropp village, residents told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. Resident Jackdel Stephen identified those slain as Sadam Iliya, 43; Umar, 18; Talik, 35; Benard, 38; and Silim, 37.
The previous day, Fulani militia attacked Rakok village, killing one Christian, said resident Gomex Agwom.
“On 18 September, a heartbreaking tragedy occurred in Rakok village, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area,” Agwom told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “A Christian man was killed by Fulani terrorists as the Christian villagers were asleep in the community.”
On Sept. 15, “Fulani terrorists” attacked NTV village, killing three Christians near Barkin Ladi town, area resident Amy Katman said.
“The attackers invaded the village while Christian villagers were asleep,” Katman told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
Fulani gunmen had also attacked Dorowa Babuje on Sept. 6, killing one Christian and wounding another, resident Danjuma Andu told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025, according to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List. Of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith during that period, 3,490 – 72 percent – were Nigerians, an increase from 3,100 the prior year. Nigeria ranked No. 7 on the WWL list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
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.
In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to the report. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, according to the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL noted. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
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