[Source: Reuters]

Gunmen have attacked a church in Nigeria, killing at least two people and kidnapping the pastor and some worshippers, police and witnesses said, days after 25 girls were abducted from a boarding school.

The attack on Tuesday evening in Eruku, a town in central Nigeria’s Kwara state, puts more pressure on the government, which is under scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump who has threatened military action over what he says is persecution of Christians.

President Bola Tinubu postponed a planned trip to South Africa and Angola for G20 and AU-EU summits to receive security briefings on the two attacks, and ordered more security to hunt down the assailants in Kwara, his office said.

The president also directed the security agencies “to do everything possible” to rescue the schoolgirls, “abducted by the bandits and bring the girls back home safe”, his spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said.

GRAPPLING WITH ISLAMIST INSURGENCY

Rapper Nicki Minaj appealed on Tuesday for global action to defend religious freedom. Speaking at the U.S. mission to the United Nations, the Trinidad-born artist, who lives in New York, said that in Nigeria “Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed”.

Nigeria is grappling with an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, abductions and killings by armed gangs mainly in the northwest and deadly clashes between mainly Muslim herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers in its central belt.

The government says the U.S. designation of Nigeria as “a country of particular concern” misrepresents its complex security challenges and does not take into account its efforts to safeguard freedom of religion for all.

In the latest attack, police responded to gunfire at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday and discovered one person fatally shot inside the church and another in a nearby bush, said Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, police spokesperson for Kwara state.

Witnesses said they counted at least three dead church members.

“They later rounded up some worshippers, including the pastor, and took them into the bush,” parishioner Joseph Bitrus told Reuters by phone, without saying how many were taken.

GUNFIRE ERUPTS DURING CHURCH SERVICE, VIDEO SHOWS

A video posted by a local news outlet and verified by Reuters showed the Christ Apostolic Church service being interrupted by gunfire, forcing parishioners to take cover.

Armed men are seen entering and taking people’s belongings as gunshots continue.

The governor of Kwara asked for the immediate deployment of more security operatives following the church attack, his spokesperson said.

Authorities have not yet located the girls abducted by armed men who stormed the predominantly Muslim Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in northwestern Kebbi state on Monday.

Vice President Kashim Shettima was expected to travel to the state to meet officials and parents on Wednesday.

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