Nigeria

According to sources, after more than 20 Christians lost their lives to terrorist attacks in two areas of Taraba state, Nigeria, in the first half of August, a Catholic teacher on Sunday was kidnapped from a church site.

Suspected Muslim terrorists in northern Nigeria killed an 86-year-old Christian in his home on Aug. 2 and kidnapped two others who were later released, likely after ransom payments, sources said.

Today, Nigeria’s Christians live primarily in the southern, farming part of the country. They are mostly under attack by Islamists and the Muslim Fulani, who live mostly in the northern herding areas. They also face the threat of Boko Haram, a ruthless Islamist terrorist organization.

According to sources, suspected Fulani herdsmen killed seven Christians, including four children, in an attack in Plateau state, Nigeria, on Sunday.

According to an Evangelical Church Winning All report, suspected Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists in Nigeria have killed six pastors and kidnapped 27 Christians of the ECWA in the past seven months.

On Monday night, suspected Islamic extremists kidnapped 36 people from a predominantly Christian village outside the city of Kaduna, in northern Nigeria.

According to sources, the body of one of two Catholic priests kidnapped on Friday, July 15, in Kaduna state, Nigeria, was recovered Tuesday morning.

According to sources, Gunmen in northeast Nigeria shot a pastor and killed his sons in one attack and killed a Christian engineering instructor in another this month.

Nigerian police rescued at least 77 people, including 23 children, from a church basement, where pastors told them to stay and to wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Nearly a month after an attack on a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria, the number killed and the identity of the assailants remain unclear, though the church held a funeral service for “over 40” victims.