World

Christmas Weekend: Muslim Radicals Kill Dozens of Nigerian Christians

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Dozens of armed men attacked the church on Christmas Eve, dragging the pastor out of his home and shooting him to death. Two young men from the choir who were rehearsing for a late-night carol service also were slain.

The group of about 30 attackers armed with guns and knives also killed two people who were passing by Victory Baptist Church. The assailants only left after setting the church and pastor’s house ablaze.

Danjuma Akawu, the church’s secretary, managed to escape after he and others climbed over the church’s fence.

“I cannot understand these attacks, Akawu said. “Why Christians? Why Christians? The police have failed to protect us.”

At the opposite end of the city, Rev. Haskanda Jessu with the Church of Christ in Nigeria said that three men attacked his church an hour later, killing a 60-year-old security guard.

At least 38 people died over the holiday weekend in attacks across Nigeria, including the six killed at the churches in the country’s north by suspected members of a radical Muslim sect. In central Nigeria, 32 died in a series of bomb blasts.

Two of the bombs went off near a large market where people were doing last-minute Christmas shopping. A third hit a mainly Christian area of Jos, while the fourth was near a road that leads to the city’s main mosque.

It was not immediately clear whether they were related to the violent church attacks. The two areas are about 320 miles (520 kilometers) apart.

The group blamed for the church attacks — the radical Muslim sect known as Boko Haram — used to be based in Bauchi, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the area where the bombs went off. The group is now headquartered in Maiduguri, where the church attacks took place Christmas Eve.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan expressed his sympathy to the victims’ families and said the government would bring the perpetrators to justice.

“I assure Nigerians that government will go to the root of this,” he said of the explosions. “We must unearth what caused it and those behind it must be brought to book.”

Religious violence already has left more than 500 people dead this year in Jos and neighboring towns and villages, but the situation was believed to have calmed down before the weekend bombings. The explosions Friday were the first major attack in Jos since the state government lifted a curfew in May.

Nigeria, a country of 150 million people, is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The blasts happened in central Nigeria, in the nation’s “middle belt,” where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands.

The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. The government of Plateau state, where Jos is the capital, is controlled by Christian politicians who have blocked Muslims from being legally recognized as citizens. That has locked many out of prized government jobs in a region where the tourism industry and tin mining have collapsed in the last decades.

“What has happened on the eve of Christmas is unfortunate, especially at this time when we want to ensure peace and security in the state,” said Gregory Yenlong, the state commissioner for information.

While the police and army have declined to identify suspects in the bombing attacks, authorities have blamed the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram for the Christmas Eve church attacks. Boko Haram means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language. Its members re-emerged recently after starting a July 2009 riot that led to a violent security crackdown, which left 700 people dead.

Police accuse Boko Haram members of a rash of targeted killings in recent months during which more than 30 people have been killed including police officers, soldiers, political and spiritual leaders.

The holiday violence in Nigeria comes as the president, a Christian from the south of Nigeria, is trying to unify the country ahead of next year’s election. Jonathan became president earlier this year following the death of Nigeria’s elected Muslim leader, and some within his party feel the next leader should also be Muslim.

Party leaders had anticipated that Jonathan’s predecessor would hold office for two, four-year terms like the Christian president before him. An unwritten agreement in the ruling People’s Democratic Party calls for its presidential candidates to alternate between the Christian south and the Muslim north.

___

Associated Press Writer Ahmed Mohammed in Jos, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Comments (63)

1 2
  • OH, I Get It!
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:27am

    Islam prospers in the fanatical-bigot and uneducated.

    Report Post » OH, I Get It!  
  • ronmorgen
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:22am

    America was the last bastion of Christianity, but has turned away from God in the last decades so that God’s judgment is now being poured out. It is the mystery Babylon, once married to Christ, but now whoring with every idol, and foreign god. There may be safer places to ride out the coming calamities.

    Report Post » ronmorgen  
  • rightwingheroes
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:57am

    Only in America, can a Christian be safe. It is the last bastion of God and Jesus. The world is overrun with religious fanatics that want us dead, down to the last child. I, sadly, will never leave America due to the threat of violence against me and my family due to being American and God fearing.

    Report Post »  
    • HairRazor
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:37pm

      You may not have noticed but Christians are under attack here in America. It will be against the law here in the near future (if progressives are allowed power) to read parts, if not all, of the Bible. Hate speech/thought crimes permiate the Holy Scriptures… just ask your socialist union lovin president and the pack of progressive/liberal tyrants in congress. Who elected these people? just sayin

      Report Post » HairRazor  
  • rightwingheroes
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:53am

    Another day in the life of a persecuted Christian. To think about all the other types of people complaining about oppression and such when Christians have been persecuted for over two millennium. That’s 2,000 years =)

    Report Post »  
  • HumbleCitizen
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:45am

    Muslim “peace” coming to an American city near you in 2011.

    Report Post » HumbleCitizen  
  • Speak without Fear
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:52am

    Oh the Peace and tolerance from the Ragheads…..it is overwhelming.

    Bacon and Egg Sandwich anyone?

    Report Post »  
  • dantom
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:46am

    The media and the dems also hollwierd will remain silent. As long as it is christians caused by the religon of peace.

    Report Post »  
  • JimOhio
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:37am

    Notice the AP article states “The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands”. Strange how churches and Christians are attacked and murdered…not local politicians and grazing cattle.

    Report Post »  
    • Zaphod
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:43am

      I found that interesting, too. I also think those alleged “Christian” politicians who are abusing their power to deny rights to citizens who do not share their religion should be held accountable. But it begs the question, do they deny the rights because the Islamic crowd breeds violence so they do not want them in their territory? It’s hard to say, but not very hard to imagine.

      Report Post » Zaphod  
  • moonfish
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:06am

    The article says, “Religious violence already has left more than 500 people dead this year…” How about we call it what it is… “Islamic violence”.

    Report Post » moonfish  
    • ronmorgen
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:41am

      The reports are British from the accent. The British are so anti-God (secular), they prefer to blame religion in general even if the evidence points overwhelmingly toward only one religion – Islam. There are an incredible number of atheists in Britain.. The solution is a revival of the Christian religion so people can tell which religion is of the truth, but I don‘t think that’s going to happen again because we are nearing the day of the Lord as foretold in the bible at which time most people will be anti-Yahweh.

      Report Post » ronmorgen  
  • mingfurecon
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:06am

    The growing trend here can be directly traced to a lack of leadership by the POTUS. I am not suggesting that this particular attack is his responsibility, but an energy that this group of despots in the administration have put forth by their collective anti-Christian posturing. Look at the number of hate mongering communists this man has surrounded himself with. He is all to willing to let any number of thousands die as a way of purging the masses. Then, as we have seen him do in the past, pay lip service for the deaths as a way of washing his hands. A Mao Ze Deng incarnate if you will. He will manage to put himself above all, while his minions do the dirty work. What he won’t be able to reconcile however is that negative energy is a double edged sword. And that my friends is something they don’t teach you at Harvard or Yale. With all his sense of entitlement and social justice hyperbole, he has unleashed a firestorm of which there can be no turning back.

    Report Post »  
  • burnteye86
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:39am

    They attacked a Church of Christ? I thought they were attacking only Christians.

    Report Post » burnteye86  
  • beckwill
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:23am

    They‘re mean because they’re sexually frustrated.

    Report Post »  
  • hillbillyinny
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:05am

    But, but, but, they tell me, “Islam is a religion of peace and love.” Yeah, right! If it that was so, why is their main book a war manual, especially in the later writings (don’t go by position in the Koran, go by date written, and interesting transformation of a man)?

    Report Post »  
  • dpselfe
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 5:53am

    Islam…….such a peaceful religion………sign me up!

    Report Post » dpselfe  
  • BoilitDown
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:37am

    Moderate Muslims must have a very weak faith not to denounce the radicals beyond the few small voices I’ve detected. The evil that the radicals and fundamentalists perpetrate must be emphatically declared and firmly opposed by all those of faith. Anything less is allowing them to continue unopposed and thereby conplicit in their actions.

    Report Post »  
    • ChiRho4Life
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:19pm

      The whole sad truth is that the ‘moderate mooslims’ all claim that if they dare say anything against the ‘radicals’, they too will become targets of the radicals – privately, the moderates are all cheering in their houses, with the curtains drawn

      Report Post »  
  • Fight for America
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:12am

    Show me how the “non-radical” Muslims are controlling their own radical Muslims? Oh, right, they aren’t. Show me some Christian “radicals” willing to fight the radical Muslims. Oh, right, society frowns on that and will continue to frown on it until “we” no longer exist.

    Report Post »  
  • Fight for America
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:09am

    Enough with the idea of a blended society. Animals stick with their own kind. People stick with their own kind. Draw the danged boundaries – each to his own side and anyone crossing the border ……
    Religion, color, whatever – “we” are not civilized enough yet to be a “stew” instead of a melting pot. Winner take all is what some believe until their is no difference. Those who don‘t have or haven’t succeeded have to make those who have things or have succeeded the enemy. They have to use religion as an excuse for their own greedy, violent, sometimes jealous ways. Drag us back into the stoneage because they can’t get it up.

    Report Post »  
  • dcwu
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 2:36am

    Why hasn’t the free world declared war on Islam yet?
    It has declared war on all free men.
    Its practicioners intend to kill us all.
    Islam is the cause of all the murdering.
    It needs to be eliminated by force of war.
    This is not genecide.
    It is the only proper action against an agressive belligerent enemy.

     
  • cheezwhiz
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:56am

    When will these muslims get it ?
    How many times can Joy Behard and Hoopie Cushion get up and walk out of their show ?

    Report Post » cheezwhiz  
    • REETZBEE
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:48am

      They’ll only get it when a Muslim slits the throat of their children.

      Report Post » REETZBEE  
    • paperpushermj
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:07pm

      Those two gutless wonders would be the first to convert

      Report Post » paperpushermj  
  • Cuthalu
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:36am

    Remember, Islam is the religion of peace….

    Report Post »  
  • SilentReader
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:24am

    And, where is the world outrage against this senseless slaughter? Where is Congress’ outrage on our behalf?

    Oh yes. I forgot. We have a corrupt UN and Islamic countries who support this kind of thing are on the Human Rights council, and we’re still supporting this institution-of-crime-against-humanity!

    Where are the leaders who will speak up for the Christians who are being slaughtered worldwide? Where are they?

    We’ve got a Congress full of wimps.

    I want the corrupt UN out of America and I want them unfunded by our taxpayer monies asap!!!!!!

    SilentReader  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:13am

    I heard Al Sharpton killed Osama bin Laden with his bare hands then pulled his still-beating heart from his chest and ate it.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • GeauxAlready
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:29am

      I need the number to your drug dealer. Al is AQ spokes person in the U.S.A.

      Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • CatB
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:12am

    More from the “religion of peace”? …. BTW .. that Muslim Cleric who wants the ground zero mosque is going to tour the U.S. to promote it .. and is starting in Detroit … which has the largest Muslim population outside of the Middle East. .. preaching to the choir or up to no good. Funny that he would go where the Muslims are to try to convince the rest of us that it is a “peaceful community center”.

    Report Post »  
  • RepubliCorp
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:01am

    Where is Al Sharpton?

    Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • HairRazor
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:16pm

      He‘s curled up dreaming of puttin a cork in Rush and Glenn’s mouth.. so to silence the truth and scam America for reparations.

      Report Post » HairRazor  
  • IVillageIdiot
    Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:33am

    Ok, so AQ is trying to start a religious war. They are trying to bait us into doing something that would give them fodder for inciting more people against the West.

    We ought to send in SF, arm them, and teach them to defend themselves. When the Mus have killed enough innocents, plenty of newly trained troops will want to help us hunt them down and kill the SOBs the other 364 days a year. We should be able to win at that pace.

    Report Post » IVillageIdiot  
    • Koran Burner
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 2:33am

      WHATABUNCHACRAP!!!! “incite more” ????? Those PIGS understand only ONE thing, SUPERIOR BRUTALITY!!! As a Veteran I would be the first to seek an alternative option. Unfortunatly, there seems to be only one way to cease the “jihad”. ELIMINATE all those who would consider that course of action as a viable aternative to living peacefully. Thank you and have a nice day,

      Report Post »  
    • kryptonite
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:39am

      Let’s worry about the enemy within first. Black jihad is growing like a silent plague behind America’s prison walls.

      Report Post »  
    • IVillageIdiot
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 4:46am

      @KORAN BURNER

      What is it about “kill the SOBs” that was ambiguous?

      By “incite more people”, I meant larger numbers of people, not people to a greater degree. I don’t think there is a much greater reaction one could incite, than to get a person(s) to slay another person(s), particularly an innocent, on behalf of a God neither one as spoken to nor heard from. I think that is just about the max limit to incitement.

      What I meant was, that the Jihadist do not yet have what they want, 1.2 — 1.6 billion Muslims on their side. There are a number, perhaps 10% or so, NOT knowing what combat against a Western power is like (in particular, the US), that would actually pack a bag and head for their inevitable misery and death with little or no reason. There are bunch more that are in solidarity with that activity and certainly willing to WATCH the West being burnt to a cinder (not knowing any better) but aren’t going to risk the required activities to bring that condition about, they’re basically “cheerleaders” in a sense, but not “players”.

      There are a bunch more that believe they MUST say certain things in certain company leastwise they TOO fall beneath the sword ( a wise policy, considering the Jihadist are perfectly willing to murder Muslims too, and because THOSE people are a LOT CLOSER… they are actually in MORE DANGER… Look at the stats!). They may or may not want Jihad, it’s hard to say which is true as they may (when Jihadist are present) vocalize one sentiment (i.e. burn the West), …and when said Jihadist AREN’T present, they are perfectly comfortable with Westerners in most respects as long as the Jihadist don’t find them out.

      Many others… like most people everywhere, would really just like to be left alone to do whatever it is they want to do.

      Did you see the protests in Iran, the center of gravity for the Pan-Arab-Jihadist movement? Did that look like 100% sublimation to Islam and the death of the West at all cost? I don’t think so…. I think a whole… bunch….. of them… want to be rid of the Jihadist, especially in those areas where other Muslim sects are getting whacked by those yokel savages. Much of what the “Jihadist” do, is really an excuse to whack another sect whom they find even more objectionable than Westerners?!!?!?

      So… I’m not sure to which part of my comment would rate “WHATABUNCHOFCRAP”…. However, the ideas you’ve followed up with, are not inconsistent with the idea I’ve expressed.

      To view ALL OF ISLAM through the same lens, I believe is a mistake.

      If, on the other hand, you mean we are to show the Jihadist ALONE, the exit off of plant Earth, I agree… COMPLETELY… that’s what

      …“ send SF to train those that the Jihadist prey upon” like the unfortunates written about in this story, and make sure the next time 30 Jihadist smucks from the dark ages show in town to kill innocents due to their religious differences, they are met with firepower and well coordinated resistance.

      I don’t see where the difference in our opinions lie?

      Report Post » IVillageIdiot  
    • quiet little lamb
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 5:06am

      Time to start a new crusade. They started this one. let’s finish it.

      Report Post » quiet little lamb  
    • StonyBurk
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:10am

      The ignorant and deceived Muslim will continue to murder/ slay non Muslim-even each other so long as there are any Muslim left on earth. They are the seed /children of their father who was a murderer from the beginning. they will use any excuse to kill because that is as much their identity as sodomy is to the homosexual. Even if the whole world converted to one faction of another of their bloody religion the different sects would continue to slay each other until the end of time bloodshed and destruction is their religion and their legacy.

      Report Post »  
    • kryptonite
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:32am

      @IVILLAGEIDIOT said, “They may or may not want Jihad…”

      I don’t know about Muslim men. There‘s power in Islam that appeals to a man’s basest carnal instincts. The problem is there will ALWAYS be jihadists because their prophet called for holy war against all infidels, and the Islamization of the world . So it is easy for a young man to become radicalized. All he needs is to truly want to follow in the steps of Muhammad.

      Report Post »  
    • TXPilot
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:05am

      Someone makes even a slight criticism about Muslims and the entire world stands up in outrage, while Christians are being persecuted, tortured or even killed, and nobody says a thing. It’s time to rid the world of the plague of Islam and all the scum who are members of this insult to the human race. There can be no allowance or acceptance for a religion that condones and promotes violence, perversion, torture and murder. Maybe it’s about time the Muslims were on the receiving end of a good, old-fashioned “holy war”??

      Report Post » TXPilot  
    • Dustyluv
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:38am

      Yea that 30 virgin thing wouldn’t work with me. I have enough trouble handling the griping from my wife. 29 more? Hell no!

      Report Post »  
    • mikem1969
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:38pm

      Ah, the peaceful loving muslim people. They just love to show the way they care about others don’t they. Drop a freaking nuke in the middle east, and then evict all muslims to the now radioactive glass lands.

      Report Post »  
    • AllHailKingJesus
      Posted on December 27, 2010 at 2:41pm

      I believe that Ann Coulter said it best when she said that to win the war on terror, we need to kill their (the terrorists’) leaders and convert them to Christianity.

      When asked, my Pastor told me the best way to accomplish this goal is through prayer.

      I’m a conservative, loyal American. But I sense that guns and bombs may not be the answer to stop people who kill with guns and bombs, especially since they buy those bombs and guns from Iran, where there is appearantly an endless supply.

      So my conclusion is that we must win this battle in the spiritual realm since we are battling a spiritual enemy. Islam is a spiritual sickness. Jesus is the spiritual cure for it. By praying with absolute faith, they way Moses did at the banks of the Red Sea, they way Jesus did when He fed the 5,000 or at the doorway of Lazarus’ tomb, we Americans can use our minds and our spiritual relationship to the One true God to affect the changes we desire all over the world.

      If prayer can bring a dead person back to life (Lazarus) after he’s been dead for days and burried in a tomb, couldn’t the collective prayer of a nation under God do just about anything?

      They have and “endless” supply of guns and martyrs. We have a rich untapped reservoir of prayer.

      Your thoughts?

      Report Post » AllHailKingJesus  
    • sooner12
      Posted on December 28, 2010 at 9:54pm

      They burn a Christian church, we burn two of theirs.

      Report Post »  
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