Pastor and family burned alive in attack

Pastor and family burned alive in attack

BARKIN LADI, Nigeria — A pastor and his family were burned alive Aug. 28 by gunmen suspected of being Fulani herdsmen.

The Christian Post reported that Adamu Gyang Wurim, his wife and three children and as many as three others were murdered in the attack.

Daily Post Nigeria reported that the perpetrators burned down Wurim’s church and razed as many as 95 homes in the Plateau State of Nigeria. A witness said that gunmen came in large numbers and surrounded the pastor’s home.

Thousands of Nigerian Christians have been killed in the last year and many other believers have lost their churches, homes and loved ones, according to a report from the Christian Association of Nigeria and church denominational leaders. The Fulani herdsmen, a community of nomadic cattle farmers, have been blamed in many of the attacks.

The Nigerian government typically views the attacks as clashes between farmers and cattle herders, though others maintain the attacks by the majority Muslim Fulani community are an effort to eliminate Christianity in the region.
Nigeria ranks as the 14th-worst nation in the world when it comes to persecution of Christians, according to Open Doors’ 2018 World Watch List. (TAB)