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Brethren Church in Kaduna, Nigeria, Has Been Burned

An update on violence in northern Nigeria has been received from Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN–the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). In an e-mail dated June 19, EYN headquarters reported that a Brethren church in the city of Kaduna had been burned in an attack, and three people were killed.

This most recent attack on an EYN church follows on one carried out the Sunday of the previous week, when on June 10 gunmen shot into an EYN church in the city of Biu during morning worship (see the Newsline report at www.brethren.org/news/2012/nigerian-brethren-church-attacked.html ).

During the burning of the church in Kaduna, the security man at the church and two of his children were “slaughtered,” said the e-mail. One of the victims was a pregnant woman. “Also, a lot other Christians have been trapped and killed across that state,” the e-mail continued. It added that here has been heavy fighting between the Nigerian army and “Muslim jihadists.”

The June 10 attack has been linked to the Boko Haram sect of Islamist extremists, according to the Nigerian media. The “Sun News”–a Nigerian newspaper–has reported that the five men arrested and accused of being the gunmen told reporters they each were paid about 7,000 Naira by Boko Haram to carry out the attack.

The e-mail from EYN headquarters closed by requesting: “Please, intensify your prayer for Christians in northern Nigeria.”

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