Nearly 200 reportedly massacred in Nigerian Christian villages

Nearly 200 Christians were massacred in Nigeria as graphic videos purportedly from the incident show men, women and children who were murdered as extremist violence spreads throughout the world. 

Amnesty International Nigeria said Friday on X, formerly Twitter, that 194 people were murdered on Christmas Eve in Nigeria's Plateau State, as the agency called on the country's president, Bola Tinubu, to "do more than merely condemning these horrific attacks."

Days before Amnesty's post, Tinubu wrote on X that he condemns the "heinous and brutal attacks," and he ordered security agencies to respond, called for culprits to be held accountable and ordered relief be provided to the surviving victims.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Muslim Fulani herdsmen have clashed frequently in the area with predominantly Christian farmers.

Maria Lozano, a representative for the Catholic relief group Aid to the Church in Need, told the Catholic News Agency that she believes the radicalized Islamic Fulani tribe is behind the attack, which marked one of the most violent times in the region's history. 

Local residents also blamed herders, according to Voice of America.

"This is not a recent problem, it has been reoccurring over the years," Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang said on X on Sunday.

A report from Aid to the Church in Need found last year that Christians are facing enough violence in Nigeria to constitute a genocide.

Since 2009, at least 52,250 Nigerian Christians have been killed, according to a report released in April by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, a Nigerian-based research group.

While some graphic videos have been incorrectly labeled online as being from the massacre of Nigerian Christians late last month, the origins of others are not so clear. 

For example, one graphic video posted by PanAm Post columnist Mamela Fiallo Flor purports to show Christian men, women, children and infants murdered by Islamic militants in Nigeria. Just the News could not independently verify said video.

Christian author and speaker Amir Tsarfati published a different graphic video to his Telegram channel Saturday, showing what he described as Christian worshipers who "were murdered in a church by Muslim terrorists."

Photos from Agence France-Presse show mass graves and destroyed homes as a result of the clash.

Following Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people, experts have been sounding the alarm about the threats of extremism across the world, including in the United States.   

"When you have this many people coming across our southern border unvetted, it's really a recipe for disaster," Army Reserve Intelligence Officer and Arizona Republican congressional candidate Abe Hamadeh told the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show last month.

"That's what I'm really concerned about, is the rise of radical Islamism plus the tensions in the Middle East that can possibly radicalize even some Americans here with homegrown threats."

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