JOS, NIGERIA (ANS) -- According to the UK-based Christian human rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Nigerian youths in Bukuru and Barkin Ladi have been holding protests following the massacre of more than 200 Christians in Zot, Dogo Nahauwa and Rastat villages, Jos South, by armed Fulani Muslims in the early hours of Sunday morning (March 7, 2010).

Corpses on ground in Jos – March 8, 2010 (Photo: CSW Nigeria)

“Entire families are reported to have been murdered, despite a heavy security presence, although the final death toll is still to be confirmed due to corpses being uncovered in bushes,” a CSW spokesperson told ANS.

CSW says that survivors of the massacre have stated that armed men arrived at around three o’clock on Sunday morning, and woke the villagers simultaneously with gun fire and shouting, before setting homes on fire and attacking men, women and children with knives.

Most died from machete wounds and many bodies were decapitated. In one location CSW Nigeria staff counted the corpses of four babies; 28 children under five, 19 over five, 21 women and 15 men. The bodies of babies had also been set on fire.

“Army assistance was requested, but arrived after the massacre had taken place. Some youths are now calling for the army to leave, as they question its role in the violence and feel its presence has done little to deter attacks on isolated communities,” added the CSW spokesperson. “Earlier today (Monday, March 08, 2010), some Muslim-owned vans at Jos General Cereal Company were set on fire by youths in the Anguldi Junction area of Jos, Plateau State, angered by the massacre.

Workers close mass graves in Jos where dozens of people killed during violent religious clashes in January 2010 have been buried (Image: AFP/File - Pius Utomi Ekpei)

“The attackers are said to have travelled into the area from the neighboring Shari’a state of Bauchi during curfew hours. The violence is thought to be in retaliation for an incident in Kuru Karama on January 19, 2010, which was widely reported as a Christian massacre of 150 Muslim villagers. However, the village head of Kuru Karama, a non-Muslim who fled the violence, has since confirmed that non-Muslim houses and bodies were among those shown in international media reports.”
 

Mervyn Thomas

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “This is by far the most serious of several similar attacks on isolated villages that have occurred since January 2010. Innocent men women, children and even babies have been murdered in a most appalling manner simply because of their religious affiliation. What is particularly worrying is that attacks continue to occur despite a curfew that the army is meant to be enforcing. The army must begin to conduct stringent searches of all vehicles travelling outside curfew hours in order to restore its credibility with the local population. Urgent action must also be taken to track down both the perpetrators and organizers of this massacre and to bring them to justice.”

To arrange interviews please contact Theresa Malinowska, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide to arrange on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0)78 2332 9663, email theresamalinowska@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.

CSW is a human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.

Note: ANS Founder, Dan Wooding, sho was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, says that he is “shocked and saddened” by the latest round of terrible violence against Christians in the land of his birth.

Dan Wooding, 69, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released “God’s Ambassadors in Japan” which is available at amazon.com.