By Ahmed Kingimi
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -Gunmen have attacked a church in Nigeria, killing at least two people and kidnapping the pastor and some worshippers, police and witnesses said on Wednesday, days after 25 girls were abducted from a boarding school.
The attack on Tuesday evening in the town of Eruku in central Nigeria puts more pressure on the government, which is under scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump who has threatened military action over persecution of Christians.
Nigeria is grappling with an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, abductions and killings by armed gangs mainly in the northwest and deadly clashes between mainly Muslim herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers in its central belt.
In the latest attack, police responded to gunfire around 6 p.m. on Tuesday and discovered one person fatally shot inside the church and another in a nearby bush, said Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, police spokesperson for the local Kwara state.
Witnesses said they counted at least three dead church members.
“They later rounded up some worshippers, including the pastor, and took them into the bush,” parishioner Joseph Bitrus told Reuters by phone, without saying how many were taken.
VIDEO SHOWS PANIC
A video posted by a local news outlet, and verified by Reuters, showed the Christ Apostolic Church service being interrupted by gunfire, forcing parishioners to scamper for cover. Armed men are seen entering and taking people’s belongings as gunshots continue.
Nigeria says the U.S. designation of Nigeria as “a country of particular concern” misrepresents its complex security challenges and does not take into account its efforts to safeguard freedom of religion for all.
Nigerian authorities are yet to locate the girls abducted on Monday after armed men stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in northwestern Kebbi state. Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima will travel to the state to meet officials and parents on Wednesday.
(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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