Nigeria: Boko Haram Kills Pastor, Destroys Four Churches
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
ABUJA, NIGERIA (Worthy News)– Suspected members of Boko Haram attacked four settlements in Nigeria's Borno State, killing a pastor and torching four churches, according to AllAfrica Global Media.
Boko Haram is a militant Islamist sect that has been active in Nigeria since 2009. The group's name translates as "Western culture is forbidden by Islam," e.g., Western ways are sinful.
Haram's Islamists — who likely fled their camps in the Sambisa Games Reserve after they were destroyed by the Nigerian military — attacked the Hwa'a, Kunde, Gathahure and Gjigga settlements by night, fire bombing four churches while chanting "Allahu Akbar".
After burning the church in Hwa'a, the Rev. Jacob Kwiza of the Church of Christ in Nigeria was killed by the Islamists after he refused to renounce his faith in Christ.
Tada Garuta, a resident told local media, "The gunmen threw some explosives at our church, they forced the retired Reverend to renounce Christianity and be converted to Islam, but Rev. Jacob defied the gunmen's threat of being killed."
"After he refused to renounce his faith. They slit his throat with sharp objects; and we started to flee for safety, as we don't know the next targets of these gunmen."
The Islamists also stole grain and livestock before they left at sunrise.
All the villages attacked were located near the borders of the Borno forest; this region was recently reclaimed from Boko Haram by the Nigerian military during anti-terrorist operations.