A Nigerian priest based in Ireland has warned that Christians in Nigeria have been “left alone to survive” by the international community, following attacks over Christmas that left almost 200 dead and hundreds more injured.

The rampage on 20 Christian villages in Plateau state started on Saturday, December 23 and continued into Christmas day.

Fr Innocent Sunu CC in Ss Peter and Paul parish in Athlone comes from the north-east of Nigeria where Christian persecution by Islamist militants has continued for decades.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Sunu – who has been the victim of Islamist attacks but managed to escape uninjured – said: “What we go through in Nigeria is not something new and the mainstream media does not report it, sometimes we try and come out and say what has been happening but no one seems concerned. Everybody reads what happens in Nigeria as if it is just passing news.

“The international community has not put any pressure on the government, or on enemies of Christianity to make them know what they are doing to us is really barbaric. I feel we have been neglected, ignored, we have been left alone to survive by ourselves,” he said.