U.S. condemns latest mass killing against Nigerian Christians

The State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs on Wednesday called on the Nigerian government to protect Christian communities after an overnight massacre in central Nigeria. Attackers killed dozens of people asleep in their beds in the latest horrific attack, according to the bureau. The Christian Emergency Alliance also called out the attack in a Tuesday release, identifying it as religious persecution. Muslim attackers didn’t even hide their faces while raiding the Mangu village, since unprovoked attacks on Christians are now common, the alliance reported.

President Donald Trump flagged Nigeria as a country of particular concern last November due to increasing religious persecution. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s annual report estimated that 21,000 people were killed in targeted religious violence within Nigeria in just five years. The independent bipartisan advisory body cited religiously motivated extremism, along with festering ethnic and economic tensions, for the rising violence. Corrupt government and state laws also contribute to the current environment of fear and unchecked religious attacks, the report added.

How has the local government responded to the attack? The Plateau State Government released a Tuesday statement condemning the attack and calling for more surveillance over vulnerable communities. The government characterized the attack as disturbing and cited residential safety as the administration's top priority. Locals must avoid taking the law into their hands as officials fully investigated the attack, the statement added.

Dig deeper: Read Philip Holsinger’s report in WORLD Magazine analyzing whether Christians in Nigeria faced a genocide.