MADALA, Nigeria — Muslim extremists bent on ridding Nigeria’s volatile middle region of Christianity killed five Christians in Niger state Sept. 22 and three others the previous week in the north-central state of Kaduna, including a 13-year-old girl, sources said.
Suspected militants from the Boko Haram Islamic sect in the Niger state town of Madala went to shops owned by Christians at a market at about 8 p.m., ordering them to recite verses from the Quran, eyewitnesses said. If the Christian traders were unable to recite the verses, the gunmen shot and killed them, they said.
Richard Adamu Oguche, a spokesman for the Niger state police command, said the attack was linked to members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect who have recently bombed Christian sites. Killed in the Madala market attacks were Sunday Emmanuel, John Kalu, Uche Nguweze and Oliver Ezemah.
The identity of the fifth Christian was not immediately known as witnesses could not identify him. In Kaduna state, suspected Muslim extremists killed three Christians in a Sept. 17 midnight attack on a Christian community in Ungwan Rana Bitaro village, sources said. About 15 gunmen stormed three houses in the village, wounding eight as well.
“Three houses were attacked by the attackers before they retreated into surrounding bushes,” a resident of the village said. “When the Muslims came, they brought out the members of these families and started shooting them and cutting some of them with machetes.” Killed were Monday Hassan, 55, his 13-year-old daughter, Godiya and his 35-year-old nephew, Istifanus Daniel.
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