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It was a night of heavy rainfall in Yelwata, a town in central Nigeria. On Friday June 13, over 500 Christians—many of them women and children—gathered together in temporary shelters in the town’s Market Square. Most of them had fled their homes across the region, hoping to find greater protection in Yelwata from a spate of recent attacks in which Islamist terrorists have massacred Christians.
Earlier in the day, the town’s armed vigilantes and a few policemen had set off to investigate reports of terrorist activity nearby. But this turned out to be a diversion, according to Steven Kefas, a Nigerian journalist.
At around 10:30 p.m., he told me, a “killer squad” of Islamists descended on the town in a three-hour murderous rampage.
Father Ukuma Jonathan, the local parish priest, was in the presbytery with displaced Christians when they heard yells of “Allahu Akbar,” gunfire, and screams. Everyone immediately dropped to the floor, fearing for their lives, according to John Pontifex, head of press and public affairs at Aid to the Church in Need UK, who spoke to Father Jonathan the day after the attack.
The jihadists broke into homes and shelters, murdering people with machetes. They were “cutting them like they were cutting a cow or an animal to be eaten,” said Kefas, who visited Yelwata and interviewed around 30 survivors the week after the massacre. The terrorists then doused their victims’ bodies and homes in petrol and set them ablaze.
“It’s psychological,” said Kefas. “They could just shoot people and move on. So I feel going the extra length of butchering these people is to send a message to the survivors that: ‘Hey, look what we’ve done to these people. That’s what we’re going to do to you if you don’t vacate your land.’ ”
At this writing, the death toll is 218, but it could keep climbing as survivors continue to die from their injuries. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition. Photographs of the aftermath— shared with The Free Press—show charred human remains and buildings’ blood-stained floors and walls. Among the most disturbing images we reviewed showed the bodies of Christians hacked to death with machetes: The corpse of a boy, around 6 or 7 years old, lay flat on his back, his eyes wide open, his shirt covered in blood. His killer had left a giant gash across his face and head. His left hand was hanging loose at the joint; his right hand was severed completely….
As Western governments have turned away from the issue, so too has the mainstream media. “If 10 people are killed in Ukraine, it becomes a major headline across all the newspapers across the world. If 100 people are killed in Gaza, it becomes the major news item on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and co.,” said Kefas. By contrast, several of the Islamist attacks in Nigeria have never been reported by the mainstream media in the West; it has been left to the small Christian press to cover the story.
“Over 200 people were slaughtered. You can’t find it on CNN. CNN will not make it a topic. Al Jazeera will not make it a topic where you have guests coming to analyze this situation,” said Kefas.
Earlier in the day, the town’s armed vigilantes and a few policemen had set off to investigate reports of terrorist activity nearby. But this turned out to be a diversion, according to Steven Kefas, a Nigerian journalist.
At around 10:30 p.m., he told me, a “killer squad” of Islamists descended on the town in a three-hour murderous rampage.
Father Ukuma Jonathan, the local parish priest, was in the presbytery with displaced Christians when they heard yells of “Allahu Akbar,” gunfire, and screams. Everyone immediately dropped to the floor, fearing for their lives, according to John Pontifex, head of press and public affairs at Aid to the Church in Need UK, who spoke to Father Jonathan the day after the attack.
The jihadists broke into homes and shelters, murdering people with machetes. They were “cutting them like they were cutting a cow or an animal to be eaten,” said Kefas, who visited Yelwata and interviewed around 30 survivors the week after the massacre. The terrorists then doused their victims’ bodies and homes in petrol and set them ablaze.
“It’s psychological,” said Kefas. “They could just shoot people and move on. So I feel going the extra length of butchering these people is to send a message to the survivors that: ‘Hey, look what we’ve done to these people. That’s what we’re going to do to you if you don’t vacate your land.’ ”
At this writing, the death toll is 218, but it could keep climbing as survivors continue to die from their injuries. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition. Photographs of the aftermath— shared with The Free Press—show charred human remains and buildings’ blood-stained floors and walls. Among the most disturbing images we reviewed showed the bodies of Christians hacked to death with machetes: The corpse of a boy, around 6 or 7 years old, lay flat on his back, his eyes wide open, his shirt covered in blood. His killer had left a giant gash across his face and head. His left hand was hanging loose at the joint; his right hand was severed completely….
As Western governments have turned away from the issue, so too has the mainstream media. “If 10 people are killed in Ukraine, it becomes a major headline across all the newspapers across the world. If 100 people are killed in Gaza, it becomes the major news item on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and co.,” said Kefas. By contrast, several of the Islamist attacks in Nigeria have never been reported by the mainstream media in the West; it has been left to the small Christian press to cover the story.
“Over 200 people were slaughtered. You can’t find it on CNN. CNN will not make it a topic. Al Jazeera will not make it a topic where you have guests coming to analyze this situation,” said Kefas.
