Stories tagged with: boko haram

• Boko Haram attacks predominantly Christian community in Nigeria

  by Morning Star News staff, posted Monday, February 24, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Facebook photo

  JOS, Nigeria (BP) -- Islamic extremist militants from terrorist group Boko Haram destroyed three worship sites and an unspecified number of houses in northeast Nigeria Friday night (Feb. 21), sources said.

  Thousands of people were displaced as the militants set three church buildings and the houses on fire in predominantly Christian Garkida, in Adamawa state's Gombi County, area residents told Morning Star News. Read More

• Boko Haram kidnaps, kills pastor amid renewed attacks

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, January 21, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Screenshot from video, Morning Star News

  Northeast Nigeria (BP) -- Boko Haram insurgents have killed a Nigerian pastor they kidnapped weeks ago, news media said Tuesday (Jan. 21), amid a resurgence in northeast Nigeria of the splintered terrorist group blamed for Christian genocide.

  Terrorists killed Lawan Andimi yesterday (Jan. 20), according to Today.NG which described Andimi as a Michika pastor who led a local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Read More

• 280 Christians killed in attacks in Nigeria

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, March 18, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock photo

  JOS, Nigeria (BP) -- Christian deaths are spiraling in Nigeria as militant Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists escalate their attacks, according to reports from religious liberty watchdog groups active there.

  As many as 280 people were killed in Christian communities in several attacks spanning February through mid-March in Nigeria's Middle Belt, according to varying reports from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Morning Star News and International Christian Concern (ICC). Militants destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced residents. Read More

• Advocates sue Nigeria for Christian girl's release

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, September 24, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  Morning Star News photo courtesy of Sharibu family

  ABUJA, Nigeria (BP) -- The Nigerian government should urgently secure the release of a Christian schoolgirl that Boko Haram terrorists have threatened to imminently kill because of her faith, an advocacy group said in a Nigerian federal lawsuit.

  Lift Up Now, led by Southern Baptist Nigerian native Adeniya Ojutiku of Raleigh, N.C., is one of three plaintiffs in the Sept. 19 lawsuit urging Nigeria to secure the release of Leah Sharibu, described in court documents as 16 years old.

  Boko Haram captured Sharibu and about 110 of her classmates Feb. 19 from the Government Girls Secondary School in the Yobe state town of Dapchi in ... Read More

• Christian 'genocide': naming Nigeria's mass slaughter

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, August 06, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  MIDDLE BELT, Nigeria (BP) -- The mass slaughter of Christians in Nigeria is calculated genocide abetted by the government in the nation that is Africa's most Christian, cries a growing number of leaders calling on the United States to intervene.

  Evangelical John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, is among the latest to describe as genocide the killing of some 6,000 Christians this year alone in Nigeria by jihadist Fulani herdsmen aided by resurging Boko Haram terrorists. Read More

• U.S. must have stake in Nigerian peace, speakers say

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, June 07, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  BP file photo from Christian Association of Nigeria

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- The United States has a responsibility to act to curtail extremist violence in Nigeria, religious freedom and human rights advocates from both countries said in a Capitol Hill briefing.

  The June 5 event, sponsored by International Christian Concern (ICC), focused on a West African country that is by far the largest population-wise on the continent and is plagued by religious- and ethnic-based violence especially from Islamic forces. Among the 25 most populous countries in the world, Nigeria has the highest level of social hostilities, according to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center. Nigeria ranks behind only Iraq and Afghanistan on the 2017 Global Terrorism Index produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Read More

• 148 Boko Haram sex slaves, forced laborers rescued

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, June 05, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Nigeria Defense Headquarters photo

  BORNO, Nigeria (BP) -- Nearly 150 children and adults enslaved by Boko Haram terrorists for sex and labor have been rescued from a remote camp in Borno state, Nigeria's defense leaders said June 4.

  "The rescued hostages, comprising 15 men, 58 women and 75 children revealed ... that the Boko Haram terrorists had sexually violated the females and used them as sex slaves," the military said in a press briefing after the June 3 rescue. "The men were not spared, as they were regularly engaged in forced labor while in the captivity of the terrorists." Read More

• 1,000 Boko Haram captives freed in ongoing battle

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, May 11, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Photo from Twitter

  BORNO STATE, Nigeria (BP) -- More than 1,000 captives were freed and 50 Boko Haram terrorists killed this week in ongoing fighting in Borno State, Nigerian military officials said.

  Women, children and a few young men forced to fight for Boko Haram comprised the freed captives, Nigerian Brig. Gen. Texas Chukwu said in a May 7 press release. He did not give an exact number of those freed, but said the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) retrieved the captives from Boko Haram enclaves in four villages in the Baba local government area of Borno State. Read More

• 5 Nigerian schoolgirls died in raid, teen told parent

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, March 22, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from Channels Television

  DAPCHI, Nigeria (BP) -- Boko Haram on March 21 released most of the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped from Dapchi, Nigeria, a month ago, but five girls still missing are feared dead, and a lone student remains captive because of her Christianity, the Associated Press reported today (March 22).

  Five of the girls who remain missing died of injuries suffered in a stampede when Boko Haram abducted them Feb. 19 from the Government Girls Secondary School, a parent of one of the five girls learned from another student, the AP reported. The reportedly deceased girls were buried in graves in the bush, the student said, but the deaths have not been confirmed. Read More

• Group seeks new U.S. religious freedom post for Nigeria

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, March 08, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from Biafra Television

  FALLS CHURCH, Va. (BP) -- A religious and secular coalition will urge Congress to create a U.S. coordinator for religious freedom in Nigeria as terrorism against Christians and other religious minorities intensifies in the African nation.

  Termed the special coordinator for religious minorities and terrorism, the post would serve as a direct link between U.S. and Nigerian governments to address religious persecution, terrorism and the resulting economic crisis in Nigeria, a coalition representative told Baptist Press today (March 8). Read More