On Monday morning in a village called Mbalom in Nigeria, a gun attack on St Ignatius church killed 2 priests and 17 members of the congregation during a morning mass.
Parish Priest Father Joseph Gor and Father Felix Tyolaha died in the attack of around 30 militia men.
Many villagers fled into the bush as the militia men fired indiscriminately, burning down around 73 homes and destroying food stores.
The attack is thought to have been by Fulani herdsmen, a group who have had several clashes with the Christian community in Nigeria over the years.
Premier spoke to Father Moses Iorapu from the Makurdi diocese in which the attack took place.
Father Moses told Premier: “It’s not the first time it [St Ignatius] has been attacked, the place was attacked in 2014 and so many people killed.”
Listen to the full interview with Father Moses Iorapu from Makurdi Diocese in Nigeria, speaking to Premier’s Cara Bentley:
He described how violent the attacks are: “The herdsmen come and they’re properly armed with AK-47s and they attack the people,
“And they don’t just attack…they bring down houses and they use machetes, they start shooting people, they butcher people in a manner than animals aren’t even butchered.”
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