Armed assailants attacked two churches in Nigeria’s Kogi State in recent weeks and abducted worshippers, a United Kingdom-based human rights organization focused on international religious freedom reported.
Attackers opened fire as they entered Aiyetoro Kiri in the Kabba-Banu Local Government Area on Dec. 14, disrupting worship at First Evangelical Church Winning All. They subsequently abducted at least 13 worshippers, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.
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The Dec. 14 abductions marked the second attack on a church in Kogi State within two weeks. On Nov. 30, militia disrupted services at the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Ejiba, abducting the pastor, his wife, a visiting preacher and several church members.
Speaking on Channels Television’s “Morning Brief” program, Kingsley Fanwo, the commissioner for information and communication in Kogi State, said local hunters engaged in a fierce gunfight with the assailants in the Dec. 14 attack.
“Our local hunters, who serve as the first line of defense, resisted them strongly,” Fanwo said. “In the exchange of fire, four bandits were neutralized, while several others escaped with gunshot wounds.”
Fanwo reported the Kogi State governor mobilized a joint security task force including local hunters and the police, as well as the Nigerian Army’s 12th Brigade, the Department of State Services, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps.
The joint task force is searching the Ejiba forest, seeking to locate the abducted individuals, he added.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ken Camp and originally published by the Baptist Standard.
