More than 100 people have been killed in farmer-herder attacks in Nigeria during the weekend. According to media reports, the attacks have happened in the central Nigerian state of Plateau. Northwest and central Nigeria have been long terrorised by bandit militias operating from bases deep in forests and raiding villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom.
The acting chairman of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, Kassah, said 113 people had been killed in the attacks on Saturday and Sunday.
“The attacks were well-coordinated. Not fewer than 20 different communities were attacked by the bandits,” he said.
“We have recovered 113 dead bodies from those communities. We have recovered more than 300 injured.”
Plateau is one of several ethnically and religiously diverse hinterland states known as Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where inter-communal conflict has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has criticised the Nigerian authorities, stating that they “have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state.”
Earlier this month, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation into a military drone strike that claimed the lives of 85 civilians gathered for a religious celebration.
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani clarified that the civilians were mistakenly killed by a drone targeting “terrorists and bandits” during the operation, Al Jazeera reported.
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Published: 26 Dec 2023, 06:50 AM IST