(Editor's note: Open Doors research has confirmed that Christians were targeted in the killings.)
Nigerian police have arrested the "masterminds of the gruesome massacre" at a state university in Mubi, Adamawa state. The shooting killed 46 students, many of whom were Christians.
Officials report that the four university students who allegedly devised the attack acted in response to recent student government elections. The 46 victims–Muslims and Christians alike–were either newly elected student leaders or students who voted for them.
Yet some persecution watchdogs are reporting that the gunmen targeted Christians in the attack, only killing Muslims on accident.
The Christian Association of Nigeria condemned the attack. In a written statement, national secretary Musa Asake said that "CAN rejects the theory of election dispute as responsible for the massacre of over 40 students, considering the manner it was reportedly carried out."
Police also confirmed that the gunmen are members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect, but Boko Haram denied involvement with the attack.
Boko Haram–which, roughly translated, means "Western education is sin"–was linked to two other attacks this September. In the first attack on Sept. 16, gunmen killed nine Christians in Bauchi, a Christian suburb that has been a frequent target of Boko Haram, according to ICR. The second attack, a suicide bomb that targeted St. John's Catholic Cathedral in Bauchi on Sept. 23, killed four.
CT has repeatedly reported on violence against Christians in Nigeria, including an attack on a Bible study that killed 19 people.
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