Douglas Burton in Washington, DC & Masara Kim in Jos, Nigeria.
JOS—In Nigeria’s killing fields, grief and miracles go hand in hand.
On Wednesday June 21 a Plateau State mother wept a river of tears at the burial of her son who died defending his hometown. He was among 7 civilian guards armed with rabbit guns who went up against Muslim terrorists firing AK 47 rifles. After a decade of radical Muslim terrorist attacks in Central Nigeria, he knew the odds.
At least 1,100 Christians have been killed in Nigeria by Islamic terrorists since the country’s Presidential inauguration on May 29, according to a Nigerian think tank.
The victims of the ongoing attacks — concentrated in the country’s Muslim-dominated north — include 20 pastors and priests, reports the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (INTERSOCIETY), an international nonprofit focused on tracking crimes. https://intersociety-ng.org
Yet there are miracle survivors. Eight-month-old Manni survived two rifle bullets through her back while cradled in the arms of her mother who died along with her father and 50 other people, in a hail of bullets in Mango town in Plateau State 35 miles south of Jos on May 16. Without detailed explanations from Nigerian authorities and largely unremarked by Nigeria’s own news agencies, the helpless citizens of Central Plateau State are without answers and assurance that the chaos of murder will ever end.
Authors: Douglas Burton is an independent reporter specializing in conflicts in Nigeria and the Middle East and is based in Greenbelt, MD. Masara Kim is a conflict specialist in Jos, Nigeria. Both Burton and Kim have been featured as news sources for Fox Nation, NTD TV, and the Westminster Institute and have been recognized with awards for religious-liberty reporting by the Catholic Media Association.
Source – TRUTH NIGERIA
