A Christian doctor was killed in a machete attack on him and his motorcycle driver on Oct. 17 in Nasarawa state, Nigeria, sources said.

Terrorists attacked Dr. Stephen Angbas, head of Angbas Hospital in the town of Lafia, at about 4 p.m. as he was returning from his farm in Awe County, in the southern part of the state, said area resident Jackson Habila in a text message to Morning Star News.

Angbas was a member of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ, Habila said.

Police spokesman Rahman Nansel of the Nasarawa State Police Command said in a press statement that Angbas' commercial motorcycle driver, Mikailu Dahiru, was wounded in the attack along Jangargari-Awe Road.

Eyewitnesses informed Punch news outlet that the assailants attacked them with machetes, and that Dahiru was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment of severe wounds.

It was unclear if the attack was religiously motivated, although the gruesome nature of the attack was similar to that of Nigerian terrorist attacks on Christians. Punch indicated robbery may have been the motive, though neither media nor police indicated any money was stolen.

Nasarawa state has suffered increasing attacks by Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists who have moved into the state. From April 24 to April 29, Fulani herdsmen killed 12 Christian farmers in Ajimaka, Doma County in attack there and in 13 other villages.

By mid-March, armed attacks by Fulani herdsmen on predominantly Christian communities in Nasarawa state had left more than 200 people dead and destroyed homes and farms, according to Nasarawa-based Ajiri Afo Development Association.

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