Report: At least 25 people killed in attack on Nigerian village
A senior U.S. official called on Nigeria to protect Christian communities after attackers killed at least 25 people, mostly women and children, in Plateau State.
At least 25 people, most of them women and children, were killed in an overnight attack on a village in Nigeria’s central Plateau State this week in the latest flare-up of communal violence in the country’s Middle Belt, according to multiple reports.
Attackers struck Bin-Per community in the Mangu local government area late Aug. 17 into the early hours of Aug. 18, Reuters reported. Residents cited by the outlet said armed men went from house to house, killing people with machetes while many were asleep.
Local reports placed the death toll between 24 and 26, according to Reuters. Homes were reportedly burned, crops were destroyed, and several people were injured or remained missing.
U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos said in an Aug. 20 X post that he was “deeply disturbed to hear of yet another horrific attack in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where dozens of people were killed in their sleep, including children.”
“We strongly urge the Nigerian government to uphold its commitments to protect Christian communities and to hold the perpetrators of this violence fully accountable,” he added. “This violence against Christians must stop immediately.”
Plateau State police said Aug. 19 that they had arrested a suspected organizer of the attack and were searching for other suspects, according to Channels Television.
Plateau State has experienced years of violence involving predominantly Christian farming communities and nomadic herders, many of whom are ethnic Fulani Muslims. Disputes over land, grazing routes, and resources are frequently compounded by ethnic and religious divisions and have repeatedly escalated into killings of Christians.
Amnesty International estimated in 2025 that more than 2,600 people had been killed in Plateau State during the two years after Nigerian President Bola Tinubu took office. The organization accused Nigerian authorities of failing to protect residents despite Tinubu’s promises to improve security, echoing concerns raised by Christian leaders in the country.
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The founder of a ministry that supports affected communities in the northern part of Nigeria recently told Zeale News that violence against Christians in the country had reached an unprecedented level in 2026.
Brad Brandon, who founded Across Nigeria 11 years ago, said in a July interview that it’s “very clear that Christian villages, communities, and individuals are being targeted, while other groups are not.”
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