RIYOM, Nigeria — Survivors of a Jan. 6 slaughter of 33 Christians in a village in Nigeria’s Plateau state said Special Task Force soldiers stationed to protect them turned their weapons on those fleeing the attack.
Speaking from her hospital bed with bullet wounds in her legs, 25-year-old Antele Alamba said hundreds of Muslim Fulani herdsmen armed with guns and machetes attacked Shonong village in Riyom Local Government Area without provocation, burning homes and butchering women and children.
“The soldiers stationed in the village to protect us joined the Fulani herdsmen in shooting, and in the process most of our people were killed,” Alamba said as tears dripped down her cheeks. “I was shot by soldiers I ran to for protection. We were all trapped in the village as there was no way of escape for us. We ran to the premises of the church, and some soldiers followed us there. They were shooting, and the herdsmen were shooting too. It was chaos and confusion everywhere.”
Pastors of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) conducted a funeral service Jan. 7 for the 33 slain Christians amid tight security provided by soldiers, sources said.
Yakubu Fom, pastor of the COCIN congregation at Riyom town, said the victims’ corpses were recovered amid charred houses and surrounding bushes.
Alamba said all the Christians killed in the Shonong attack were members of the COCIN congregation. The church has about 300 members.
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