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By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:
Published January 6, 2026
NIGER STATE, Nigeria (BP) – Militants have killed at least 58 individuals in Christian villages in northeastern and northcentral Nigeria since Christmas, and kidnapped others from a Catholic boarding school, according to numerous reports.The attacks Dec. 29 and Jan. 3 followed U.S. launches of more than 16 Tomahawk missiles on targets in northwest Nigeria Dec. 24, which the U.S. said were aimed at Islamic terrorists who have targeted Christians there.
The Nigerian government blamed the killings of dozens of individuals Jan. 3 in two villages in Niger State – a state in northcentral Nigeria separate from the neighboring country of Niger – on “terrorists suspected to be fleeing from Sokoto and Zamfara following the United States’ airstrikes on Christmas Eve,” the New York Times reported Jan. 4. But the full impact of the U.S. strikes on Christmas Eve has not been reported.
The Jan. 3rd attacks occurred in Kasuwa Daji village in the Borgu Local Government Area, where residents initially reported 37 deaths, and in the neighboring village of Kaima, where five people were killed, the Times reported. Reuters News Service attributed the Jan. 3 attacks to the deaths of at least 30 individuals, but said the attack was on Kasuwan Daji market in Demo village, which is in the vicinity of Kasuwa Daji.
The combined death toll for Kasuwa Daji (or Demo) and Kaima had risen to 50 by Jan. 5, Anadolu News Agency (AA) reported. A mass funeral was held as the injured were hospitalized, AA reported.