During the evening service on Monday (7th July), alleged Islamic extremists shot a Baptist pastor and another worshiper, luring a woman in Katina, northwestern Nigeria.
According to News Outlet Truth Nigeria, the Beiji Baptist Church was attacked when Fulani was attacked in the village of Beiji Baptist (also known as Yaribori) in Kahuru County.
Church member Zacharya Jatau told Christian Daily International Morning Star Star News that he was leading worship services and Bible studies when the pastor was shot.
“Another member, a woman, was also invited and taken to an unknown location,” he said, confirming the explanations of another church member.
Members of the congregation said the murdered Zidane Taro was a prominent convert from Islam and that Pastor Naarra had worked to reconcile the village’s Muslims and Christian communities, Trunigeria reported.
Plateau’s murder
In Plateau Province, central Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen killed 20 Christians in one area of the state in June, but Christian villages, primarily in another county in the state, have suffered the massacre of 80 residents since May.
In Mangu County, they killed two Christians on June 27th, destroying 96 homes belonging to Christians in Gambuwas in the Rangay district.
“This is the devastating impact of the Fulani murder in the Mangu local government area of Plateau,” Luka told the Christian Daily International Morning Star News in a text message. “On Friday, June 27th, my friend’s father, Rose Dappas, went to the farm in Gambwas and hired about 15 Christians to the ground to plant the crops. At the end of the day he paid and fired the workers he had been hired with his son.
In Manja village in the county, residents said on June 19, the herdsmen killed three Christians who worked on the farm.
“The three Christians were on the farm and tilled the grounds and groomed the farm when armed herdsmen attacked and killed them,” Plateau State Assemblyman Matthew Kwarpo told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “The terrorists during the attack in Manja village not only killed three Christians, but also set fire to over 20 homes belonging to Christians.”
On June 11, the herdsmen killed eight Christians in the county’s Chikim village, a Jeremy Niuwa resident said.
“The armed herdsmen broke into a community just a mile from the town of Mangu and began shooting the Christian villagers they witnessed,” Nyuwa said. “And in another Christian community, Buwai village, the herdsmen attacked Christians there on June 10. Seven Christians were shot during the attack.”
In Boccos County, in partnership with other Islamic extremist terrorists, Fulani herdsmen have attacked 13 Christian villages since May, killing 80 people and destroying dozens of homes, sources said. Military authorities confirmed the attack and sent troops to affected communities.
The villages of Tars, Hokki and Juwan were attacked on June 29th, but on June 27, June 26 and June 2, 10 other communities were attacked in previous incidents, Christian leaders said. The pastor’s house was burned down in an attack on Hokk on June 29th.
Amalau Samuel, chairman of the Bokkos Local Government Council, described the attack as “a wild man.”
“The attackers came late at night and began killing innocent people,” Samuel said. “They went from house to house and just couldn’t get an entrance, they broke through the ceiling. What’s affected are the elderly and children who couldn’t run.
Local residents said terrorists have camps in areas such as Duffa, Mbar, Tangle, Piakmaru, Butura and Kwata, and the information has been reported to Nigerian military authorities and other secret agencies.
With millions of figures in Nigeria and Sahel, Fulani, primarily Muslim, constitute hundreds of clans of many different lines that do not hold the views of extremists, while some Fulani adhere to radical Islamist ideology, all party parliamentary groups (Appgs) in the UK for international freedom or beliefs.
“They are clearly intent to adopt a comparable strategy for Boko Haram and Iswap and target strong symbols of Christian and Christian identity,” the AppG report said.
Nigerian Christian leaders say they believe herdsmen’s attacks on the Christian community in the mid-zone of Nigeria are inspired by the desire to forcefully take over Islam as it forced Christian lands and made desertification difficult to maintain the flock.
According to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List, Nigeria has remained one of the most dangerous places for Christians. According to WWL, of the 4,476 Christians killed for faith around the world during the reporting period, 3,100 (69%) were in Nigeria.
“The scale of anti-Christian violence in this country is already at the highest possible level under the global watch list methodology,” the report states.
In the north-central zone of the country, where Christians are more common than they are in the northeast and northwest, Islamic extremist Fulani militias attack farm communities, killing hundreds of Christians and, above all, hundreds of Christians. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State (ISWAP) of West African states are also active in northern states in the country where federal control is scarce and Christians and their communities continue to be targeted for attacks, sexual violence and the killing of disability. Ransom aid has been increasing significantly in recent years.
The violence spreads across southern states, with new jihadist terrorist group Lakrawa appearing in the northwest, armed with sophisticated weapons and an extremist agenda, WWL noted. Lakrawa is affiliated with the expansionist al-Qaeda rebellion Jamaa Nusrat ul Islam Wa al-Muslimin, or Zinim, which is derived from Mali.
Nigeria ranked 7th in the 2025 WWL list of 50 worst countries for Christians.
