Nigeria Violence: 12 Christians Killed, Tongues Cut Out

[IndianaGreen]

Source: Huffington Post

Nigeria Violence: 12 Christians Killed, Tongues Cut Out

JON GAMBRELL | 03/17/10 07:48 AM |

LAGOS, Nigeria — Attackers killed 12 people Wednesday morning in a small Christian village in central Nigeria, officials said, cutting out most of the victims' tongues in the latest violence in a region where religious fighting already has killed hundreds this year.

The attack almost mirrored the tactics used by those who carried out similar massacres in Christian villages last week when more than 200 people were slaughtered.

Under the cover of darkness and a driving rain, raiders with machetes entered the village of Byie early Wednesday, setting fire to homes and firing gunshots into the air to drive frightened villagers into the night, witness Linus Vwi said.

"It was raining. They took that advantage," Vwi said.

Vwi said he and about 20 neighbors rushed into the surrounding wilderness, cowering in bushes as they listened to screams.

He said the attackers spoke Fulani, a language used mostly by Muslim cattle herders in the region. Officials and witnesses blamed Fulani herders for the killings last week.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/nigeria-violence-12-chris_n_502977.html

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Religion at work!

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rasputin1952]

4. That is irrelevant...

human beings, regardless of religion were slaughtered.

This is a human tragedy, to pick and choose who gets "sympathy", is callous at best.

[provis99]

7. so you would feel sorry for Hitler and Stalin?

Guess I'm a bad man, because I'm selective about who I feel sorry for.

[rasputin1952]

9. We know about Hitler and Stalin...

all we know about these people is that they were awakened in the middle of a stormy night and slaughtered. You allegory is more toward the the perpetrators than the victims.

[juno jones]

8. I hear you.

I would love to have more information to know if these christians were the same ones accusing their neighbors of witchcraft and killing and ostracizing them.

They may be perfectly innocent, then again...hard to tell without more data, I suspect I will withold judgement until that arrives. The mere Christianity of these people and Islamicism of their alledged attackers guarantees nothing.

[Jamastiene]

10. "The mere Christianity of these people and Islamicism of their alledged attackers guarantees nothing

Exactly. If their only real disagreement is the names of their religion, as it is in some cases with Talibornagain type "Christians," then I still feel the same way as above.

There but for the grace of God go I. I could have been born in Nigeria and my very life would be in jeopardy just for existing, based on laws agreed upon by both extremists in Sharia Law and in some Christian circles as well.

Would this certain group who was killed be there to stop the death penalty for gay people or fan the flames to help it reach the rest of Nigeria instead of just the northern part?

Or are they be there to instigate and fan the flames of violence just based on the names of their prospective Gods. I have no sympathy for that kind of extremism.

I would have to know.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory

[juno jones]

17. Have you seen this article?

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/04/texas-taliban/

It must be safe to think it is as far away as Nigeria.

[LiberalFighter]

2. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, whatever.

Any atrocity like this needs to have the leader of the group's church executed too.

[rasputin1952]

5. Executions wiill only escalate the violence. The perpetrators

need to face justice, but execution would add fuel to fires already burning.

[stray cat]

3. Cattle herders at work! - or shall we just say blacks at work!

its a bunch of murderous thugs and says nothing about their skin color, religion or work.

[Jkid]

6. This is just horrible.

My father actually came from Nigeria and I can not believe that this violence is still ongoing.

[struggle4progress]

11. Jos massacre (Daily Sun)

•It’s religious war – Revd Dziggau
•No, it’s ethnic – Immam Ashafa
From NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna
Thursday, March 18, 2010

The National President, Hekan Church, Reverend Emmanuel Dziggau has said that the latest Jos crisis had nothing to do with ethnic rivalry, but a purely religious war between Christians and Muslims in Plateau State. However, Imam Mohammed Nureen Ashafa, of Inter-Faith Mediation Centre, Kaduna, disagreed. He insisted that the Jos mayhem was basically ethnic crisis ...

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/mar/18/national-18-03-2010-004.htm

[Igel]

13. They say the same thing.

Using different terms.

At least for the most part.

It's the kind of groups based on multiple boundaries that flummoxes a lot of people.

Of course, if it's religious war, that's bad. Just as long as it's ethnic.

But if it's ethnic, then it's essentially attempted ethnic cleansing.

Or we can consider it a kind of blood feud. Or something else no less pleasing.

[struggle4progress]

12. 13 killed as Jos boils again (Punch)

By Layi Adeloye with agency report and Jude Owuamanam, Jos, Published: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010

... A Fulani community leader, Mallam Sale Bayari, denied that Fulanis took part in the killings on Wednesday ... The General Officer, Commanding 3 Armourd Division, Maj.-Gen. Sale Maina .. said, “I was in that village about 4am after the attack and no one told me about the involvement of soldiers. Every attack is attributed to fake soldiers in camouflage, but they have not told us what type of camouflage" ... Governor Jonah Jang .. said, “Some key people in Nigeria are behind the orgy of killings in the state ... In fact, some international communities are involved" ... http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201003182375084

[struggle4progress]

14. Fresh clashes in Nigeria kill 11 (Reuters via NZ Herald)

... Fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands .. have repeatedly triggered unrest in the region over the past decade ... http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=16642&cat=2

[struggle4progress]

15. 13 Killed in Fresh Jos Massacre (This Day)

... There were conflicting reports as to the number of dead people. Some 13 people, most of them women, were said to have been gruesomely murdered and several others injured.
But a statement from the military said nine people were killed in Biye and 13 houses burnt in both communities. The statement also revealed that seven people have been arrested ...

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=168836

[struggle4progress]

16. Nigeria: further killings - Archbishop denies religious clash (Fides via ICN)

Twelve more people were killed in an attack in the village of Byie in the Nigerian Plateau State last night. Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos, said he did not believe the cause of the violence was religious. He said: "This is a retaliation against the Fulani herders against the villagers, for an alleged theft of livestock. This is not a clash between Christians and Muslims."

"The Fulani herdsmen, considered the villagers responsible for the loss of part of their livestock, and carried out a retaliation attack. The fact that the Fulani are Muslim, and the villagers are mostly Christians, is an incidental fact. The real motivation for the massacre is the alleged theft of the livestock," Bishop Kaigama strongly affirmed.

He said: "I am concerned about the fact that the large international press continues to
present the clashes that take place in Plateau State as a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims. This is not so. This violence is of a social, economic, and political origin. Stating that there is a religious clash means endangering the lives of people, because, talking about it really presents a threat to igniting sectarian hatred. Why doesn't the international press talk of the initiatives undertaken by everyone, including Christians and Muslims, to reduce tension in the area? It seems to me that they are just trying to throw fuel on the fire" concluded the Archbishop of Jos.

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=15831