NIGERIA - SUICIDE BOMBER STRIKES CHURCH IN PLATEAU STATE

From Barnabas Fund:

NIGERIA - SUICIDE BOMBER STRIKES CHURCH IN PLATEAU STATE

Three people died at a church on Sunday 26 February when a suicide bomber sped past a security checkpoint into the grounds of the Church of Christ (COCIN) headquarters in Jos in a car packed with explosives.

The vehicle exploded three metres from the church building. Two women and an 18-month-old child were killed, and around 50 people were injured. One of the women had recently fled the anti-Christian violence in Yobe state.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, an elderly Christian woman was murdered, with a threatening note believed to be directed at her son, a pastor, left on her chest. Shetu Haruna Malgwi (79) was attacked in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri on Wednesday 22 February. The assailants slit her throat, and left a note written in Arabic with a red pen that said, “We will get you soon.” A Bible had been left under the church choir member’s feet.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which has been behind numerous attacks on Christians in Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the blast in Jos and is also suspected of being behind Mrs Malgwi’s murder and another church bombing on 19 February, in which five people were injured.

• Pray for Christians in Nigeria, as they endure the constant threat of violence, remembering especially those recently bereaved or injured. Pray that the Lord will rescue His people and protect them. Pray for the members of Boko Haram, that they will turn from their violent ways.