2 killed in church attack in Nigeria, days after dozens of schoolgirls abducted

Two people were killed in an attack on a church in central Nigeria, authorities said, just days after dozens of schoolgirls were abducted and one staffer killed in the country’s north.

No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday night’s attack in Eruku town in central Nigeria. Police responded to gunfire and found one person fatally shot inside the church and another nearby, Kwara state police spokesperson Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi said in a statement. 

Kwara State Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in a statement Wednesday praised Nigerian President Bola Tinubu for the deployment of 900 additional troops there.

Tinubu has delayed his departure to South Africa, where he planned to attend this weekend’s Group of 20 summit of the world’s leading rich and developing nations after the attack and the abduction of 24 schoolgirls on Monday, a spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement.

One of 25 abducted students in northwestern Nigeria escapes

Twenty-five schoolgirls were reported abducted from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Kebbi state’s Maga town Monday, but one escaped and is now safe, the school’s principal told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Hunters were searching for the remaining missing students in forests near the school.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions. Gangs of bandits often target schools, travelers and remote villagers in kidnappings for ransom, according to analysts and locals.

Local police said gunmen scaled the fence of the school grounds and exchanged gunfire with police officers before taking the girls and killing a staff member.

Trump tells Pentagon to “prepare for possible action” over persecution of Christians in Nigeria

Meanwhile, President Trump earlier this month asserted that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and told the Pentagon to begin preparing for possible military action in the West African nation.

In a post on Truth Social late last month, Mr. Trump accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to prevent the killings of Christians, saying the United States “may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

The Nigerian government has vehemently rejected the claims. Tinubu has said the characterization of Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the national reality. While Christians are among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, where most attacks occur.

“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” Tinubu said on Nov. 1. “Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”

Nigeria’s central region has been plagued by violence for years as local herders and farmers often clash over limited access to land and water. The clashes have also taken on a religious dimension, giving rise to militias that side with the primarily Muslim herders or the farmers from Christian communities.

Nigeria’s north often sees attacks by the resurgent Boko Haram group, an affiliate of the Islamic State group and armed gangs.