A string of attacks on Christians in Nigeria has left 11 people dead, including a church pastor.
The attacks took place in southern Kaduna state from last Sunday to Tuesday, Morning Star News reports. Locals said the perpetrators were Fulani herdsmen, an ethnic group that is mostly Muslim.
The Rev Adalchi Usman, 39, was killed on Sunday in Unguwan Madaki village, Kajuru County, along with three others. He was the pastor of the Evangelical Church Winning All and a father of two.
Luka Binniyat, of the Southern Kaduna People's Union, told Morning Star News that Pastor Usman and the other victims were ambushed while travelling in a commercial vehicle.
"The killers came from the bush and just started shooting at the car. The driver of the vehicle, Danlami Dariya, was abducted, and at the time of releasing this statement his whereabouts was still unknown," he said.
On Monday, Bulus Joseph, a Christian farmer and father of nine, was killed by armed herdsmen in an attack on his farm at Sabon Gida Idon, in Kajuru County.
"He stood up to the killers so that his wife and three children could escape, which they did. But he paid the price with his life, as he was sub-humanly butchered by the cold-blooded murderers," said Binniyat.
Also on Sunday, village head Dan'azumi Musa, 67, his 97-year-old mother, Kande Musa,, and his siblings Aniya Musa, 60, and Angelina Irmiya, 45, were killed by Fulani herdsmen near Banikanwa area, in Kachia County.
Then on Tuesday, two more Christians, including a 16-year-old student, were killed in Zangon Kataf County in southern Kaduna state.
A recent report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) recently decried the lack of government action to stop the bloodshed.
The report said that not all Fulani are radical but those who are "adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity".
The report noted that Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is a Fulani.
"He has done virtually nothing to address the behaviour of his fellow tribesmen in the Middle Belt and in the south of the country," the report said.
