Reports have emerged of a mass killing of Christians in Nigeria at the hands of Fulani herdsmen on Christmas day.

Bodies were discovered in the village of Anwase, in the state of Benue. The total dead in the attack was 33. A resident told Christian Daily that the community was in “shock and mourning”.

A community leader said: “Our people were celebrating Christmas when the Fulani herdsmen invaded the communities and attacked them. These attacks are unprovoked.”

Armed Fulani militants have long terrorised Nigerian Christians. Persecution watchdog Open Doors places the country as the sixth most dangerous for Christians in the world – despite almost half of its population belonging to the Christian faith.

The organisation states: “More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year than everywhere else in the world, combined.

“Men and boys are often specifically targeted, to undermine the growth of Christian families in the future. Women and girls face abduction and sexual violence, with the knowledge that sometimes their communities reject them when they come home.”

Anwase residents have called on their government to protect them from armed militants. President Bola Tinubu is Muslim, and a lack of intervention against Christian persecution leads many to believe he has insufficient political will to tackle it.