Ligari: The villagers in northwestern Nigeria were settling in for church service when motorcycle-riding gunmen invaded, shooting at random and seizing at least 62 people, including the pastor and several children.
They were marched into the nearby bush, then forced to walk for two days to a forest hideout. There, they said, they were held for nearly a month while relatives and other villagers sold anything they could — farmland, livestock, motorcycles — to raise the ransom demanded for their release.
They got little food and sleep, were told to renounce Christianity, and saw two fellow hostages killed.
Four of the villagers who were eventually freed told The Associated Press in interviews at their church in the Ligari community, in Nigeria’s Kaduna state.
“I told my people even if they see my dead body, they should not deny Jesus and they should remain strong,” said the Rev. Micah Bulus, resident pastor of Kauna Baptist Church.
Since the attack last November, the community has experienced more violence, like much of the conflict-battered north.