Suspected Fulani herdsmen stormed a church choir practice and kidnapped 17 Christians in north-central Nigeria on 18 May, the same night gunmen killed a Christian and kidnapped two others at a Baptist church, sources said.
‘As we were in the church, Fulani herds-men numbering over 20 just surrounded the church and started shooting’, Ezekiel Ishaya said. ‘Everybody was terrified, but there was no way we could run because they had already surrounded the church. They were asking for the pastor’s house, and they threatened to shoot us if we didn’t show them the house. Some of them went to the pastor’s house while others kept watch over us.’
The gunmen kidnapped the Revd Zakariya Ido, his daughter and 15 other church mem-bers, including the son of the pastor of an Assemblies of God Church.
