Church Militant | Martina Moyski | June 17, 2020
Islamist militants have murdered dozens of men, women and children in a village in northeastern Nigeria.
According to a statement issued by the Nigerian army public relations, the Nigerian army is “deeply saddened” by the recent ambush of Faduma Koloram village by “BokoHaram/ISWAP terrorists.”
The June 9 attack resulted in the murder of at least 81 villagers. Several others, including women, children and the village leader, were abducted from the community, according to a CNN report. The entire settlement was razed.
The terrorists arrived in armored tanks, vehicles filled with guns and on motorcycles, shooting AK-47s at the villagers, according to a statement issued by the state of Borno. The terrorists proceeded to steal the villagers’ cattle and camels. Details of the assault were also corroborated by a village survivor, a Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) member and a soldier.
This attack comes just days after President Trump signed the Executive Order on Advancing International Religious Freedom. The president’s order defines international religious freedom as a moral and national security imperative as well as strengthens religious freedom as a basic principle of ongoing American foreign policy.
President Trump’s order effectively put the persecution of Christians and other religions “on the front burner,” Nigerian bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto told the National Catholic Register, a move the bishop says is especially welcome “in the face of the crippling secularism that is trying to push religious identity to the sidelines.”The terrorists arrived in armored tanks, vehicles filled with guns and on motorcycles, shooting AK-47s at the villagers.Tweet
Nigeria has suffered years of Islamist attacks. In one of the most recent incidents, in December, 10 Christian hostages were beheaded, allegedly in retaliation for the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Iraqi-born leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), killed by U.S. forces in October.