Christian father and son beheaded on their way home from choir practice
A Christian father and his 7-year-old son have been killed in a horrific attack in Nigeria.
Thomas Wollo, 46, and his young son, Nggwe Thomas, were beheaded by radical Fulani herdsmen, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
The attack occurred on Sunday evening near their home in Tafigana village, Plateau state, as they were returning from choir practice.
Zongo Lawrence, spokesman for Miango Youth Development Association, is pleading for outside help to stop the violence.
"Seventeen of our people have been killed by Fulani herdsmen this year. The international community should come to our aid; we are under heavy siege," he told ICC.
In a separate incident in Kogi State last Thursday, a pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning died while in the captivity of Fulani herdsmen.
According to Morning Star News, the Rev Danlami Yakwoi was taken along with two of his sons and a nephew in the Tawari area on 12 July.
He was reportedly tortured prior to his death. One son was released after the family paid a ransom.
The latest killings follow the release of a harrowing report warning of at least 3,400 Christian deaths in Nigeria so far this year.
The report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law hit out at the Nigerian government and security forces for failing to protect Christians.
"The country's security forces have so fumbled and compromised that they hardly intervene when the vulnerable Christians are in danger of threats or attacks, but only emerge after such attacks to arrest and frame up the same population threatened or attacked," the report said.
"It is deeply saddening that till date those responsible for the anti Christian butcheries in the country have continued to evade justice and remained unchecked, untracked, uninvestigated and untried; leading to impunity and repeat-atrocities.
"The surviving victims and families of the dead victims are also totally abandoned by the Government of Nigeria."