Clashes Break out After Months of Jihadist Slaughter and Invasion of Christian Villages
By Masara Kim
[Jos] Gunshots echoed in the hilly south of Jos on January 30 as armed terrorists targeted villages occupied by Christians in central Nigeria. A deadly drone attack in Jordan on December 28, killed three service members and injured over 40 injured.
But U.S. authorities have yet to respond, much less to intervene in ongoing massacres that have claimed the lives of more than 295 Christians 6000miles away in the majority Christian state of Plateau since Christmas Eve.
The attacks in the west of Bokkos county started on January 29 at 6 pm local time, continuing into January 30 despite the presence of a military base just 3 miles away.
Locals tell TruthNigeria several houses were burned across a swath of five villages in the Mbar district, and many residents are feared dead. A policewoman native to the area emotionally confirmed to TruthNigeria her uncle’s death in the attacks.
The violence follows officials’ desperate attempts to prevent a religious war amid ongoing clashes between Christians and Muslims in nearby Mangu county.
In the aftermath of relentless religious clashes, Mangu, a once bustling commercial crossroads just 45 miles south of the capital city of Jos, now stands desolate. Its landscape is scarred by the ruins of burned houses and worship centers. The violence, following months of Christian massacres in the region, has claimed the lives of at least 45 people since Tuesday, (Jan. 23) despite the enforcement of a 24-hour curfew. Both Christian and Muslim communities, grappling with accusations of religious targeting, point fingers at security forces, alleging complicity in the tragic unrest. Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff has absolved the army of any wrongdoing.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang, on January 25 decried the “escalating” violence and urged security agencies to “intensify” efforts to guarantee “absolute peace.” But violence continued up to the morning of Saturday, January 27.
As Lt. Gen. Lagbaja headed to the state for an operational tour, the villages of Satguru and Tyop in Mangu, a wealthy agricultural county, faced attacks. Even soldiers trying to intervene took cover with gunmen opening fire on them. The situation escalated, resulting in injuries and, according to a local leader, the death of around 30 armed terrorists during a retaliatory action by the troops.
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General Lagbaja, during his visit, ordered troops to adopt a more aggressive approach to eliminate terrorists, marking a shift in acknowledging their role in the ongoing attacks. Previously, he attributed the violence to political conflicts and farmer-herder disputes.
This followed a surge of violence that killed dozens of residents from January 23 in the Mangu city area. Clashes broke out on January 23 in Mangu city, the seat of the Mangu county, following a night raid that killed at least three residents the previous day in a western suburb. Several people were killed within the first day of the violence, prompting the governor to order a curfew.
The Leader of the Church of Christ in Nations, the area’s dominant church, Rev. Dr. Amos Mohzo, described the incident as “heart-wrenching”. It included militants boldly filming themselves as they brutally snuffed out the lives out of unsuspecting Christians and burned families to death locked in their own houses.
In one of such videos seen by TruthNigeria, a group of youths armed with sticks and machetes hacked a young man to death. Despite the boy screaming and begging for mercy. The victim yelled out of pain from the brutality “they are going to kill me.” But the youths rapidly bludgeoned him until slashing his throat as he fell to the ground. A male voice speaking in Hausa is heard saying “Of course we are going to kill you, stupid infidel.”
TruthNigeria identified the victim as John Sundume Maimako, who was murdered in a northern Mangu suburb known as “Laplek.” At the same exact hour, another group of young adults burned a family of five in a house just 1mile away, as they shouted “Allahu Akbar.” Victims included Beatrice Ringmechit Dauda, a 30-year-old college graduate, who was trapped and burned alive along with her entire family in their home in Ntam village on the northern edge of Mangu.
In another video, an unidentified man shows a group of houses burned to the ground, boasting of securing victory for Islam.
In the intermittent narration delivered in Hausa language, the 20-something man says “Peace unto you my Muslim brothers. Continue to support us with your prayers. By the grace of God, we are getting victorious.”
He continues: “You can see the places we’ve burned. May God help us! God help Islam and Muslims! May God get rid of infidels!”
Muslim extremists took advantage of the curfew to burn down houses, killing unsuspected persons and destroying properties and churches under the watchful eyes of the military, according to Lawrence Kyarshik, spokesman for a local development association.
“The Executive Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, on January 28 imposed a 24 hour curfew in Mangu Local Government, but to no avail as Fulani Jihadists rampaged through the town of Kwahaslalek, leaving more than 30 residents dead, houses and properties including food items destroyed with fire,” wrote Kyarshik in a press statement shared with TruthNigeria.
“One then wonders how these criminals operated without any resistance from the Security personnel already deployed in the Local Government,” Kyarshik wrote.
“Sadly enough, a security alert received on Monday, January 22 had shown that there is pending attacks in Mangu and other places, yet these carnages went on unhindered,” he wrote, acknowledging an alert by TruthNigeria.
The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Mangu, Rev. Timothy Daluk has accused the army of complicity with terrorists.
“What is happening in Mangu at this particular point in time, the military are the ones sending our people away for the militia to burn their houses” Daluk said in a short video shared by TruthNigeria.
“At this particular point in time, they have sent every Christian away from the new market, thereby leaving the Muslims to come and burn their houses,” said Daluk in the viral video, threatening to mobilize Christian locals in the area to take up arms and defend themselves.
Lt. General Lagbaja has defended his troops serving in the state.
“Gen Lagbaja noted that he is aware of the difficulty and challenges confronted by the troops, as they legitimately carry out their duties, particularly, some of the weighty allegations being touted against them,” wrote Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, the Director of Army Public Relations in a press statement on Saturday, January 27.
“He clarified that though one cannot completely rule out the possibility of one or two cases of misconduct during operations, he guaranteed that the Nigerian Army and indeed the Armed Forces of Nigeria have an internal regulatory mechanism that does not permit considerations for ethnic and religious affiliations when deploying troops,” Nwachukwu wrote.
In a counter claim, Muslim residents told BBC that seven mosques were burned by Christians in the area. TruthNigeria confirmed that one Mosque was burned in an area called Dawo in retaliation to the burning of a Church in a nearby suburb called Sabon Kasuwa.
One resident, Abdullahi Haruna, was quoted saying in the report that he was away when the clashes started, but that his brother, Umar Haruna, was killed in his house.
“When we went to the house, his body was burned just as the house. We couldn’t even give him the usual Muslim corpse bath due to the fact that the body was damaged badly,” the brother said.
Governor Mutfwang on January 27 wrote in a post on X that he held a peace meeting with army officials and town leaders toward resolving the conflicts.
Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter in Jos and the senior editor of TruthNigeria.
