Armed groups kill scores of villagers in Nigeria’s north-cen-tral Plateau state in the long-running conflict between noma-dic herders and farmers.
At least 140 people were killed and others are missing after a series of attacks by gunmen on remote villages in north-central Nigeria’s Plateau state.
Officials and survivors con-firmed the Christmas Eve attacks and blamed the killings on the farmer-herder crisis in the West African nation.
They said the military gangs, locally called “bandits,” launched “well-coordinated” attacks in “not fewer than 20 different commu-nities” and torched houses on Saturday and Sunday. Gunfire was still heard on Monday morning. Plateau Governor, Caleb Mutf-wang, said that in Mangu local governorate alone, 15 people were buried on Monday, and authorities in Bokkos had counted not less than 100 corpses.
“I am yet to take stock of (the deaths in) Barkin Ladi,” Mutfwan said, adding, “It has been a very terrifying Christmas for us here in Plateau.”
More than 300 wounded people have reportedly been taken to hos-pitals.
Amnesty International’s Nige-ria office told The Associated Press that it has so far confirmed 140 deaths in the Christian-majority Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi areas of Plateau, based on data compiled by its workers on the ground and from local officials.
There are fears of a higher death toll as some people remain unaccounted for.
Some witnesses said it took more than 12 hours before security agencies responded to their call for help.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, though blame fell on herders from the Fulani tribe, who have been accused of carrying out such mass killings across the northwest and central regions.
The bandit militias operate from bases deep in forests and raid villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom.