ABUJA, NigeriaOctober 10, 2022 (Morning Star News) — Islamic extremist militants killed three Christians in an attack on a village in Chibok County, northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, October 4, which injured dozens more people and torched homes, sources said.

Terrorists attacked the village of Njilang in Borno State in the latest of many multi-year acts of terrorism targeting the Chibok area. A local resident identified the attackers as members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), although local reports attributed the attack to Boko Haram. A faction of Boko Haram in 2016 aligned with Islamic State and changed its name to ISWAP, and many Nigerians still refer to the group as Boko Haram.

A local resident, Daniel Musa, said ISWAP militants attacked after 2:30 a.m., armed with high-powered weapons, surrounded the village about four kilometers from Chibok town and fired on Christian villagers trying to flee after waking up to the sound of gunfire.

“ISWAP terrorists also burned down six houses and looted five shops belonging to Christians in the village and then set fire to the shops,” Musa told Morning Star News in a text message.

Musa said ISWAP had attacked three other predominantly Christian communities in the area over the past two weeks.

Umar Ibrahim, chairman of the Chibok local government council, confirmed the attack on the Njilang community.

“This is not the first time that our communities have come under attack because ever since Boko Haram insurgents began their destruction in Borno State, communities in Chibok have come under constant attack,” Ibrahim said in a text message. “Preliminary reports I have received indicate that so far three people have been killed, while many houses have been destroyed and shops looted by the terrorists.”

Military authorities said earlier this month that 98 of the 276 high school girls abducted from Chibok town by Boko Harm in 2014 remain missing.

Colonel Obinna Ezuipke, intelligence chief of the military high command in the northeast, said 57 of the girls escaped in 2014 and 107 were released in 2018. Three of the girls were recovered in 2019, two in 2021 and nine were rescued. this year, leaving 98 who remain in captivity, he said.

Major General Chris Musa told a Nigerian TV channel on Oct. 1 that the military is still looking for Leah Sharibu, who was abducted on Feb. 19, 2018, alongside more than 100 other students from the Science Secondary School. and technique of government daughters in Dapchi. , Yobe State. While the other girls were released on March 21, 2018 after the kidnappers negotiated with the government, the terrorists held Leah, then 16, because she refused to renounce Christ.

“We won’t rest until Leah Sharibu and the other Chibok girls return and reunite with their families,” Musa said. “We won’t rest until they’ve all returned safe and sound.”

Nigeria leads the number of Christians killed for their faith last year (October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021) with 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List 2022 report. . The number of kidnapped Christians was also the highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, compared to 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.

Nigeria is second only to China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.

In the 2022 World Watch list of countries where it is hardest to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.

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Article originally published by Morning Star News. Used with permission.

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