Up to 200 Christians, many of them internally displaced persons (IDPs), have been killed in what is being described as the worst single atrocity in Benue State, Nigeria.
The attack took place on Friday, 13th June, when militants stormed temporary accommodation in the market square of Yelewata, Guma Local Government Area, near Makurdi.
According to first-hand reports given to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the attackers targeted buildings where displaced families were sleeping, setting fire to doors and opening fire as people attempted to escape. Survivors reported that those trying to flee were attacked with machetes, and many victims were burned alive inside the buildings.
Earlier that evening, local police had reportedly repelled an attempt to storm St Joseph’s Church in Yelewata, where up to 700 IDPs had taken refuge. However, militants then turned their focus to the market square, where more than 500 people were sleeping.
Initial figures confirmed at least 100 deaths, but the Diocese of Makurdi’s Foundation for Justice, Development and Peace (FJDP) later estimated the toll at 200. Parish priest Fr Ukuma Jonathan Angbianbee described the aftermath as “truly gruesome”, saying: “People were slaughtered. Corpses were scattered everywhere. Some [bodies were] burned beyond recognition... infants, children, mothers and fathers just wiped out.”
Fr Ukuma, himself an IDP, said he and others narrowly escaped death by sheltering in the church’s presbytery. He and other clergy have identified the attackers as Fulani militants and criticised the security response, saying police were poorly equipped and unable to prevent the massacre.
Pope Leo XIV, speaking at the Angelus on Sunday, said he was praying for those “brutally killed” in the “terrible massacre”, most of whom were IDPs sheltered by the local Catholic mission. He called for “security, justice and peace” in Nigeria, especially for the rural Christian communities of Benue State.