Suspected terrorists from the Islamic State West Africa Province have killed three Christians and destroyed a church in an attack in a village in northeast Nigeria’s Chibok area, according to reports.
The attack took place in the predominantly Christian village of Kautikari in Borno state on Friday evening in which three Christians were killed and the building of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria was destroyed, Morning Star News reported Sunday, citing area residents.
Nigerian newspaper the Daily Post identified the deceased as Bulama Wadir, a traditional ruler’s son, and two internally displaced persons.
The Kautikari community, which lives on the fringes of Sambisa forest, a base of ISWAP terrorists, was also attacked in mid-January, when 24 Christian women and children were captured and taken into captivity, with 20 of them still held captive. The four others managed to escape in late January.
A worship auditorium of the local Church of the Brethren in Nigeria was also damaged in the January attack.
Kautikari village is near Chibok, where over 200 girls were kidnapped from a school in 2014.
Chibok leaders were quoted as saying that their communities have been attacked more than 72 times since the 2014 kidnappings. After eight years in which 57 girls escaped on their own and others were released, 110 of the girls remain in captivity, according to the Chibok Area Development Association.
In an earlier interview with The Christian Post, Emeka Umeagbalai of the Anambra-based International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law said kidnappings of Christians happen for various reasons.
Boko Haram, ISWAP and radicalized members of the Fulani herding communities are motivated by money, while others are inspired by Islamic radicalism
