Christians in Nigeria's Plateau state are living in fear of another attack, says a Christian member of the House of Lords.
There are reports on the ground that Islamic terrorists are planning an attack on Jos, capital of the Plateau state in central Nigeria, Baroness Caroline Cox has revealed.
The charity she founded in 2004, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), is active in the embattled region.
She has received reports from local contacts that "terrorist groups are soon going to converge in Jos and have listed the places they plan to attack".
Her contacts told her: "There has been so much bloodshed and property burnt and more people displaced and also crops destroyed. We pray that God will stop it from happening again."
Baroness Cox told supporters that since 2015, HART has received "almost-daily reports of similar attacks by Fulani militia or other terrorist factions, including targeted attacks against predominantly-Christian communities in Plateau state and elsewhere.
"Some local observers have gone so far as to describe the rising attacks as a campaign of ethno-religious cleansing.
"Can I urge you to continue to join HART in prayer – that there would be an immediate cessation of attacks and provision of food, shelter, medicine and protection for displaced civilians?
"Please also join us in raising awareness of these atrocities – that perpetrators of atrocities would be held to account," she wrote.
Jos city suffered a serious terrorist attack in 2015. The Islamist group Boko Haram killed 44 people in two bomb attacks.
In 2012, a Boko Haram suicide car bomber killed three people at a church in Jos.
In 2006, jihadists attacked the home of the Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Ben Kwashi, severely injuring his wife, Gloria. His home was again attacked in 2018. He was unharmed but his neighbour was tragically killed.
Early this month Christian Today reported an urgent plea from Rev Dr Stephen Baba Panya, president of one of the largest Christian denominations in Nigeria, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), about militant Fulani attacks on Christians in the Plateau and Kaduna states.
He said a wave of attacks on the predominantly Christian Irigwe ethnic group between 23 July and 2 August had been "the worst nightmare".
Dr Panya reported that federal and state security forces were doing little to prevent the attacks.
"Many of the villages, where these killings and burnings are taking place, are basically located behind the 3rd Armoured Division Barrack of the Nigerian Army, yet, these militias are allowed to continue their heinous murders and carnage without any intervention by the Nigerian Army and other security agencies," he said.
This has had the effect of "eroding the confidence of the populace in the military and security agencies, as unbiased protectors of all, devoid of tribe, ethnicity or religion," he added.
