Crammed inside a church in the central Nigerian town of Bokkos, hundreds of survivors of deadly Christmas weekend attacks desperately await aid as they mourn their loved ones killed in the latest spiral of violence in the troubled region.
Nearly 200 people died in attacks that began in the evening of December 23 and lasted through the morning of December 26 in Nigeria’s Plateau State, wracked by violence for years.
Religious and ethnic tensions have for years roiled the province, which lies between the Muslim-majority north and mainly Christian south.
The attacks led to nearly 20,000 people, mostly women and children, leaving some 20 villages around Bokkos and Barkin Ladi.
They are now sheltering in 23 camps set up by the Red Cross.
“We were cooking when the gunmen attacked our community. We had to run for our lives. We didn’t even know where we were running to,” said Lucy Joshua,…
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