“Religious Violence in Benue, Nigeria, Claims 17 Lives,” from Open Doors USA, with thanks to the Snail:
LAGOS, Nigeria — Fourteen Christians were among 17 people
killed in the villages of Chilakera and Imbufu in the central state of
Benue, Nigeria, as a result of violent clashes between Christians and
Muslims.According to police reports, the violence in Benue occurred on April 10 when Muslim militants attacked the two villages, killing 14 people and destroying valuable property.
The chairman of Katsina Ala local government council, Tsenongo Abancha, told Compass on May 6 that tensions between the two religious communities in Chilakera village was fueled by the rape of a Christian student, Miss Ngumalen Atser, at the hands of two Muslim men.
“This girl was not only raped by these Muslims, but was also poisoned to death on March 17,” Abancha said. “This sad incident strained the
relationship between Christians and Muslims.”…
There’s an understatement.
Over the past four years, religious violence in Nigeria has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and displaced many thousands more from their homes and farms.
Community leaders in Nigeria — both Muslim and Christian — blame the escalating violence on social tensions produced by the implementation of Islamic law in a dozen northern states of Nigeria beginning in 2001.