Gunmen Kill 22 At Niger Baptism Ceremony And Nearby, As Christian Farmer Escapes Attack (Worthy News Investigation)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News, with additional reporting from Niamey and Abuja

NIAMEY/ABUJA (Worthy News) – Suspected Islamist gunmen on motorbikes have killed at least 22 people in Niger, including about 15 at a baptism ceremony and seven more nearby, officials and witnesses said. In neighboring Nigeria, a Christian farmer in the Abuja area separately told Worthy News he miraculously escaped armed men raiding his land.

The attack in Niger’s Tillabéri region, bordering Mali and Burkina Faso, began “while people celebrated a baptism ceremony, [when] gunmen opened fire, sowing death and terror,” local civil rights activist Maikoul Zodi said about the assault that reportedly killed 15 people.

A resident told the French news agency AFP on Tuesday that the attackers then moved to a nearby area, killing seven more villagers after the initial assault. Local broadcaster Elmaestro TV described the bloodshed as leaving “a gruesome death toll of 22 innocent people cowardly killed without reason or justification.”

Worthy News could not independently confirm whether the reported baptism ceremony this week was Christian or Muslim. In French-language reporting from the Sahel, the term baptême often refers to a Muslim naming ceremony (aqiqah).

However, Nigeria-based Christian farmer Paul Jongas, who lives in the Abuja area and knows the Niger borderlands, told Worthy News he was convinced Christians were among those killed. “We have so many Christians over there. I even have some Bible college mates pastoring [churches] in that area,” Jongas explained.

CIVILIANS DEMAND PROTECTION

Niger’s authorities confirmed an attack occurred in Tillabéri but did not release casualty figures.

The massacre comes amid a broader surge of Islamist insurgent attacks across the Sahel. Human Rights Watch reported last week that jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State have summarily killed more than 127 villagers and Muslim worshippers since March, while looting and burning dozens of homes.

On Saturday, Niger’s army said 14 soldiers were killed days earlier in an ambush in Tillabéri after troops were deployed following reports of cattle theft.

The United Nations estimates that more than half a million people have been displaced in Niger due to jihadist violence, while in Nigeria, nearly 3.5 million people remain uprooted by Islamist insurgencies and related communal conflicts.

Activist Zodi questioned why civilians remain so vulnerable. “It is time for concrete answersHe said, “strengthen state presence in vulnerable areas, and show that every Nigerien life matters. ”

POLITICAL CONTEXT

Niger has been under military control since General Abdourahmane Tchiani seized power in 2023, ousting elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

Along with neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger expelled French and U.S. troops once central to counterterrorism operations in the Sahel, instead forging new security ties with Russia and Turkey.

Yet despite these shifts, violence continues across the borderlands, where thousands of civilians have died over the past decade — including many Christians.

Christian advocacy group Open Doors ranks Niger among the countries where believers face severe persecution, especially in rural areas targeted by Islamist extremists.

NIGERIA SUFFERING

For farmer Jongas in the Abuja area, the violence felt all too close. He recalled how three armed men arrived at his farm on Wednesday.

“Today, three gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles and machetes arrived in a Toyota Starlet car. They could have kidnapped me, as happens often with Christians. Instead, they said they were looking for someone else,” he told Worthy News.

“Nothing happened as I quickly left my farm before they could change their mind and abduct me or kill me. That’s what’s happening here very often,” Jongas explained.

The farmer said his old motorcycle saved him: “It helps me to escape.”

Jongas, 54, explained earlier to Worthy News that he is preparing to flee with his wife and three children after his Christian neighbor was recently abducted.

DEADLIEST FOR CHRISTIANS

Advocacy group Open Doors notes that Nigeria ranks sixth on its 2025 World Watch List of 50 nations that it describes as the worst persecutors of Christians.

The group says Nigeria remains “the deadliest place in the world for believers,” with more than 4,000 Christians killed each year on average, largely due to extremist violence, bandit raids, and kidnappings.

In contrast, Niger’s Christian minority is small — less than one percent of the population — but increasingly vulnerable to the same jihadist groups spreading terror across the Sahel, according to investigators.

Yet, Jongas credited his survival to divine intervention. “It’s God who has been saving me all these years,” he stressed.

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