beaten to death by an angry Muslim crowd as police refused to intervene, Christian leaders and other officials said.
The troubles began after the woman, whose identity is not known, allegedly walked into the Jumat Mosque in Izom in Nigeria’s Niger State, where Muslims claimed she left an "inciting letter," that "insulted" the Prophet Muhammad, BosNewsLife learned.
However in a published statement the Roman Catholic Church in Izom denied the charges saying she shared the Gospel with Muslim youth and gave them some tracts to read.
Angered by her activities, a Muslim crowd handed the woman over to local police but she was not safe there, Nigerian media and officials added. While the woman was under protective police custody for interrogation, Muslim militants armed with sticks and other weapons reportedly stormed the Izom Police station.
POLICE FLEE
After an apparent brief fight, police officers fled and the mob killed the woman with stones and sticks, according to several news reports and eyewitness accounts. "It is, however, unbelievable that a mob could carry out extra-judicial killing of an innocent citizen right within the premises of a police station in 21st century Nigeria," commented the Nigerian Tribune newspaper about the June 28 incident.
"It is equally puzzling that the mob carried out its dastardly act without any resistance whatsoever from the police," the paper said in an editorial. Muslims are believed to constitute about half of the residents of Izom town, in the Gurara local government area, and observers suggested the attack could spark more religious violence.
There are reportedly nine churches in Izom, including the Roman Catholic and Evangelical congregations. Church watchers say the death of the Christian woman marks the first fatality of a preacher in Niger State since it introduced an Islamic legal system was introduced in 2000.
MUSLIM LAW
Niger is one of the 12 states that has implemented Muslim law, or Sharia, in northern Nigeria, where there have been several violent incidents against churches and individual believers. This week, reports emerged that at least three people were killed and 30 others injured when Nigeria’s ‘Taliban’ militia attacked a Christian village in Taraba State.
In Borno state earlier this year over 60 Christians were reportedly killed, and nearly 60 churches destroyed in sectarian violence. Those attacks were linked to the publication of Mohammed cartoons in Denmark, which were seen as offensive to followers of Islam.
Despite the apparent dangers, believers are often engaged in street evangelism in Nigeria and local Christians say they can be often seen preaching the Gospel in marketplaces, buses and trains. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Nigeria).
