Gunfire cut through a service at the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, a town in Nigeria’s central Kwara State. Armed men came in, took worshippers’ belongings, and left with the pastor and several members of the congregation. Police found two people shot dead.
Fox News, citing Reuters, put the attack on Tuesday evening. LifeSiteNews said Wednesday. Reuters reviewed and verified a video from a local news outlet that shows the shooting breaking up the service as parishioners dived for cover and the gunmen moved in.
Witnesses believed the toll was higher than the police count. They thought at least three people had been killed. Parishioner Joseph Bitrus told Reuters what happened next: “They later rounded up some worshippers, including the pastor, and took them into the bush.”
A spokesperson for Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said he asked the federal government to send more security forces. No group has been named as responsible.
A run of attacks
It came days after gunmen seized 25 girls from a boarding school in Kebbi State and killed at least one staff member. Police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi told The Associated Press the attackers had “sophisticated weapons” and exchanged fire with the guards. A combined team was searching escape routes and surrounding forests, he said.
The violence against Christians has drawn attention in Washington. President Donald Trump has designated Nigeria a country of particular concern. In a Truth Social post he warned that the United States would stop all aid if the Nigerian government kept allowing the killing of Christians, and said it might go in “guns-a-blazing.” At the UN, U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz held an event on the issue and called the killings “genocide wearing the mask of chaos.” Rapper Nicki Minaj also spoke there. “In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed,” she said.
A 2025 Global Christian Relief Red List report ranks Nigeria the most dangerous place in the world for Christians. It says most killings occur in northern states governed by sharia law, where Christians often live in remote villages in semi-arid country.
Sources
- Nigerian gunmen kill at least two, kidnap several in latest anti-Christian attack – LifeSite
- Gunmen attack church in Nigeria, killing two and kidnapping others
Sources
- Nigerian gunmen kill at least two, kidnap several in latest…
- Gunmen attack Nigeria church amid escalating violence… | Fox News
