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Hundreds of Nigerian Christians killed, injured in brutal attack over Christmas

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From LifeSiteNews

By Ashley Sadler

“Not a day goes by when Christians are not terrorized in western Africa in the most grotesque ways imaginable”

More than 100 Nigerian Christians were brutally murdered and hundreds more were injured in brutal attacks carried out over Christmas, according to numerous reports. 

The attackers struck more than 20 villages in a range of counties of Nigeria’s Plateau State on Christmas Eve, according to International Christian Concern.

Reports vary concerning the number of people killed, with estimates ranging from between 140 and nearly 200 people in the majority-Christian areas. Many of those killed were women, children, and the elderly.

International Christian Concern cited numbers from Amnesty International Nigeria, which said that a total of 194 people had been killed in the attacks. The group also said that over 300 people were injured and some 29,350 were displaced.

Christianity Today reported that the massacres are suspected to have been carried out by “extremists among Fulani Muslim herdsman against Christian farming communities.”

Reacting to the massacres, Nigeria’s International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) openly declared that they see “the latest butcheries” of “not less than 160 defenseless Plateau Christians” as evidently the “clear handiwork of Fulani Jihadists (Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits)” as well as “conspiratorial security chiefs and operatives particularly the operatives of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS.”

The organization expressed suspicion that the murders were carried out as a “coordinated revenge killing” in response to two airstrikes by the Nigerian Defense Headquarters of the Nigerian Armed Forces that killed more than 120 innocent Muslims taking part in a festival on December 3. 

“The ‘class criminalization’ sort of revenge killing of over 160 defenseless Plateau Christians must have also arisen from ‘transfer of criminality responsibility’ through class criminalization and ethno-religious hatred and bigotry,” the organization surmised.

“Not a day goes by when Christians are not terrorized in western Africa in the most grotesque ways imaginable,” he said. “Christians are killed for sport, especially Christian children.” 

He also suggested that reported murders do not reflect the true numbers.

“For every massacre which you hear about there are probably 10 others which happened in the shadows,” the spokesperson said. “The death tolls are routinely in the hundreds.” 

International Christian Concern reported that “Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places for Christians, particularly in the Middle Belt region,” noting that millions of Christians have been displaced in the region and over 50,000 have been murdered in the past two decades alone.

Suspicion concerning the involvement of local Islamic jihadists comes as the phenomenon increased in recent years in Africa amid unsuccessful efforts by western militaries to curb its spread, LifeSiteNews previously reported.

A 2021 report by the Brookings Institute ​​noted that “jihadi insurrections have persisted and are even expanding” in several geographical regions in Africa, including “West Africa, with the border region between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso particularly affected.”

The rise of the Islamic terror threat comes “[d]espite massive efforts by European nations and the United States — with France and the United Kingdom on the front lines,” the report continued, noting that the U.S. had roughly 6,000 boots on the ground at the time in Africa. Most were tasked with combating the jihadist terror groups.

And recent Islamic violence isn’t isolated to Africa.

Last month, four people were killed and dozens injured in the bombing at a Catholic Mass on a university campus in the Philippines on Sunday. ISIS militants claimed credit for the attack.

In October, hostilities in a decades-long conflict between the Muslim government of Azerbaijan and a small group of Armenian Christians broke out anewkilling hundreds and forcing nearly all of the roughly 120,000 Christian residents of a region known as Nagorno-Karabakh to flee to Armenia.

And on October 7, Islamic Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip, mutilating, raping, and murdering over 1,000 civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, and injuring thousands more. Hundreds of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers were also killed in the blitz, and nearly 250 people were taken hostage, launching the Middle East back into bloody conflict as Israel declared war with the stated intention of eliminating Hamas.

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conflict

Hamas, Palestinians paraded dead babies coffins through streets before handover to Israel

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Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and two young children, through the streets of Gaza before handing them over to the Red Cross. Videos show crowds cheering as armed terrorists carried the coffins as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel.

Key Details:

  • Videos from Khan Younis, Gaza, show Hamas and other terrorists parading four caskets, including those of two young children, before handing them to the Red Cross.
  • Crowds cheered as the terrorists, armed and unmasked, carried the coffins, with celebratory music playing in the background.
  • The deceased were identified as members of the Bibas family, including the youngest hostages from the October 7 attack.

 

Diving Deeper:

During a ceremony in Khan Younis, Gaza, Hamas paraded the caskets of Israeli hostages through the streets, including what they claimed were the bodies of a mother and her two small children. The display occurred before the remains were handed over to the Red Cross as part of a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel. Crowds of Gazans were seen cheering and celebrating as the coffins were carried by armed terrorists.

Videos from the event show masked militants loading a casket into a Red Cross aid truck, while another militant, adorned with symbols of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, filmed the procession. Another video shows adults and children waving and celebrating as Hamas fighters, armed and in trucks, paraded through the streets. Reuters footage also captured members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) helping carry a casket, highlighting the involvement of multiple terrorist factions in the display.

Hamas presented the bodies as those of the Bibas family, who were captured during the October 7 attack. The children, aged four years and less than one year, were among the youngest hostages taken during the brutal assault that triggered the ongoing 15-month conflict. The fourth body was identified as 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Hamas has repeatedly blamed the deaths on Israeli airstrikes, though no evidence was provided to support the claim.

Israel and Hamas are currently observing a temporary ceasefire agreement, facilitating the exchange of civilian hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Despite the ceasefire, Hamas has continued to celebrate the October 7 attacks, which resulted in the largest mass killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. During the ceremony, a stage displayed a poster depicting Israel as a “Nazi Army,” underscoring Hamas’s longstanding agenda of hostility towards the Jewish state.

The shocking parade of caskets, accompanied by celebratory music and cheering crowds, has drawn international condemnation and further underscored the brutal nature of Hamas’s actions. As the exchange process continues, the emotional toll on the families of the victims remains immeasurable.

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SecDef Hegseth picks investigators to examine botched Afghanistan withdrawal

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has initiated an investigation into the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal. Hegseth confirmed that investigators have already been selected to examine the disastrous exit, which left 13 U.S. service members dead and stranded Americans behind. He emphasized that accountability is forthcoming and vowed a thorough review to uncover the decision-making failures behind the debacle.

Key Details:

  • Hegseth told Breitbart News that he has already chosen investigators for a full Pentagon-led review of the withdrawal.
  • The Biden administration’s 2021 exit resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members, abandoned American citizens, and a botched drone strike that killed an Afghan aid worker and his family.
  • No officials were held accountable, while Marine Col. Stuart Scheller, who publicly called for accountability, was the only one punished—he now serves in the Trump administration.

Diving Deeper:

Hegseth, in an exclusive interview, stated that the investigation would be comprehensive, focusing on key decision-making failures that led to one of the most disastrous military withdrawals in U.S. history. While no specific timeline was provided, he stressed the importance of getting the facts right.

The 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, executed under then-President Joe Biden, resulted in a chaotic evacuation at Kabul International Airport. The suicide bombing at Abbey Gate claimed the lives of 13 American troops, while the administration abandoned hundreds of U.S. citizens despite claiming success. Additionally, the U.S. military, in a hasty attempt to prevent another attack, launched a drone strike that mistakenly killed an innocent Afghan aid worker and his family. At the time, then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley defended the strike as “righteous.”

Despite these failures, no senior officials were removed from their posts. The only individual who faced consequences was Marine Col. Stuart Scheller, who was discharged after demanding accountability in a viral video. Now, he serves as a senior adviser to the Defense Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness under the 47th President, Donald Trump.

Hegseth reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring accountability, emphasizing the need to establish a factual timeline of events, decisions, and their consequences. “I don’t think there’s anybody that feels like there’s been an honest accounting of what happened in Afghanistan. That’s our job,” he said.

The investigation, he added, will be critical to rebuilding trust within the Defense Department. “We’re going to drive that full investigation and get a sense of what happened. Accountability will be coming,” Hegseth concluded.

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