Three people were shot to death this Sunday, June 19, in two churches in a rural area of Nigeriaafter being attacked by armed men.
The bloody events occurred when people were going to the Maranatha Baptist Church and the San Moisés Catholic Church in the morning, when the aggressors arrived on motorcycles surrounding the temples.
Constant murders and attacks against parishioners
This is within a few weeks of a slaughter where 40 parishioners were murdered under the same modus operandi in this African country.
The armed men, who have not yet been identified, affected four villages in the state of Kaduna, kidnapping several inhabitants and destroying homes.
Nigeria is being wracked with violence, with Kaduna being one of the worst affected states. Thirty-two were reported killed last week in four villages in the Kajaru area in an attack that lasted several hours.
Authorities identify possible rivalry between churches
The events were condemned by the Christian Association of Nigeria and took the opportunity to denounce that the country’s churches have become “targets” of armed groups.
“It is very unfortunate that at a time when we have not yet left the mourning for the people killed in Owo two Sundays ago, we are presented with another one in Kaduna”
Pastor Adebayo Oladeji said.
The authorities are being overwhelmed by the number of armed people operating in motorcycle gangs, however investigations indicate that most of the attackers are possibly young shepherds from the Fulani tribe.
This tribe is credited with warlike rivalry between the communities and against other shepherds, due to the scarcity of water and fertile land for cultivation.
It usually takes police months to make arrests. The authorities have identified that the majority of the aggressors are young herders from the Fulani tribe immersed in the conflict between the communities and the herders over limited access to water and land.
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