The Nigerian Army claimed on Sunday that its troops stormed a church in the village of Ariko and freed 31 hostages from the clutches of an armed gang.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) disputed those claims on Monday, claiming no rescue has been completed and the churchgoers are still being held hostage.
The church in Ariko, located about 62 miles north of Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, was raided by gunmen on Sunday morning during Easter celebrations – part of a massive wave of attacks perpetrated against Christians across the country on Easter weekend.
Local officials vaguely described the assailants as “bandits,” and said they killed five to seven of the civilians in the church during their attack.
The Nigerian military has often been criticized for responding very slowly to bandit and jihadi attacks on Christians. President Donald Trump said in November that if the Nigerian government “continues to allow the killing of Christians,” the United States would halt all foreign aid to Nigeria, and “may very go well into that now-disgraced country, guns-a-blazing, to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
In the case of the Ariko attack, the Nigerian Army boasted that it was able to respond quickly and decisively, engaging the kidnappers in a “fierce firefight” and forcing them to flee the scene. The “fleeing terrorists” supposedly suffered “significant casualties” and left “blood trails along their escape routes.”
“Through a swift response, we have successfully foiled a terrorist attack leading to the rescue of 31 civilians abducted during an Easter church service,” the military said in a statement.
This account was strongly disputed by Ariko residents and by Rev. John Hayab of the CAN. Local media reported that, contrary to the military statement, the attackers faced no resistance for much of Sunday afternoon.
Hayab said the Nigerian Army is on the scene, but did not conduct the heroic rescue operation it claimed.
“Yes, the military are doing their best to get them back home, but it is not fair for the military to claim that the victims have been rescued,” he told Reuters in a phone interview on Monday.
“Now we have misinformation. When we are busy denying, we are just giving the bandits the opportunity to strike and go freely,” he complained.
A local resident told Reuters that funerals were held on Monday for seven people killed at the church, but “no single soul was rescued.”
The Nigerian military did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the story.
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