Nigeria: Christmas Massacre Death Toll Hits 195, 10,000 Displaced, More Than 1,000 Homes Burned Down

Nigeria: Christmas Massacre Death Toll Hits 195, 10,000 Displaced, More Than 1,000 Homes Burned Down

Local authorities in Plateau state, Nigeria, updated the death toll of a presumed jihadist massacre of Christians beginning on Christmas Eve to 195 people on Thursday, warning that the arduous search for bodies in the bush continues and will likely add to the catastrophic number of lives lost.

Attackers identified in Nigerian media as “bandits,” believed to be members of the majority-Muslim Fulani ethnic group, went on a killing and pillaging rampage in the heart of Plateau beginning on Christmas Eve, burning down hundreds of homes and killing entire families. The mass murder, which law enforcement authorities described as “well coordinated,” was the latest in a string of killings that religious freedom advocates and Christians on the ground denounce as genocide — an attempt by the Fulani to eradicate the Christian presence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region and usurp its territory.