ATTAKAR, Nigeria — John Dakwat and his wife were at work in a back corner of their church building when they heard gunshots — just one in a series of attacks that killed at least 26 Christians in the border area between two states during Holy Week.
Dakwat, who identified the assailants as Muslim, ethnic Fulani herdsmen, managed to hide behind the church building with his wife. From there they were able to escape, he believes, because God kept the gunmen from seeing them. He also notes that his children — and he and his wife — likely survived because the kids were in school at the time. Many of the predominantly Christian, ethnic Attakar victims of the attacks on villages along the border of Plateau and Kaduna states were either children or the elderly.
Dakwat returned to Kirim village four days later, only after security agents finally intervened. By then, at least 26 Christians from 12 villages on each side of the border had been killed.
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