Al Jazeera reports that Deadly attack hits Nigeria church
Gunmen have stormed a church service in Nigeria, killing six people and wounding 10, the church’s pastor said, the latest in a string of attacks that has raised fears of sectarian conflict in Africa’s most populous nation.
“It was around 7:30 pm (1830 GMT),” Pastor John Jauro told AFP news agency of Thursday’s attack in the city of Gombe.
“I was leading the congregation in prayers. Our eyes were closed when some gunmen stormed the church and opened fire on the congregation. Six people were killed in the attack and 10 others were wounded.”
He said there was confusion as worshippers sought to flee at the Deeper Life Christian Ministry Church.
Local police spokesman Ahmed Muhammad confirmed the attack, but declined to say how many people the gunmen killed and wounded.
The attack comes after a purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram on Sunday issued a three-day ultimatum for Christians living in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north to leave the region or they would be killed.
Did you hear about this? Did you read about it? Was it on the evening news?
I’m trying to imagine the coverage of a reversed but parallel event, namely, if Jewish killers murdered worshippers in a mosque in Israel or if Christian terrorists (if you could find any) stormed in a mosque somewhere and killed Muslims.
There would be days and days of coverage, and the usual suspects would use it to create moral equivalencies between Orthodox Jews, Christian Evangelical Conservatives, and Islamist terrorists. I’m sure Obama would have something to say about it.
Let’s see how much coverage of this sort flows from the murder of Christians. Or this. Or this.
Of course, the idea that Islamist authorities would be expected to have prevented the murders is absurd on its face. Obviously, Boko Haram was cheering the killers on. Along with too much of the rest of the Islamist world.
