In one of the deadliest attacks in Nigeria’s recent history, up to 200 Christians were killed in Yelewata, Benue State, on the night of Friday, June 13. Militants stormed a temporary IDP settlement in the town’s market square, burning shelters and attacking fleeing families with guns and machetes.
The massacre took place over the course of three hours, beginning shortly after the militants were repelled from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where 700 people were sleeping.
The attackers reportedly shouted “Allahu Akhbar” as they set fire to building entrances and opened fire on sleeping civilians. Survivors and local clergy confirmed that bodies were burned beyond recognition, with entire families wiped out.
Fr. Ukuma Jonathan Angbianbee, the parish priest of Yelewata, described the horror:
“People were slaughtered. Corpses were scattered everywhere. It was truly gruesome.”
He confirmed that the attackers were Fulani militants, coordinating their assault using the cover of heavy rain and striking from multiple directions.
This attack marks a grim escalation in violence in the Makurdi region, where more than 100 people were also killed in previous weeks. According to the Diocese of Makurdi’s Foundation for Justice, Development, and Peace (FJDP), the atrocity is part of a pattern of targeted violence against Christian communities in Benue State.
Church leaders have strongly criticized the lack of effective security, saying the police present at the church were under-equipped and could not prevent the market square massacre.
Speaking from the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV called for “security, justice, and peace” for Nigeria’s Christians and prayed for the victims of the “terrible massacre.”
Benue State remains over 95% Christian, and Church authorities warn that a militant campaign of religious cleansing is underway, with thousands now displaced again after fleeing to towns like Daudu and Abagena.
This attack is now considered the worst atrocity in Benue’s recent history, adding urgency to international calls for intervention to protect vulnerable Christian populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
