Gunmen kill at least 13 people in a mosque shooting in northwestern Nigeria
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Unguwan Mantau, in the state of Katsina, but such attacks are common in Nigeria's northwestern and north-central regions where local herders and farmers often clash over limited access to land and water.
The attacks have killed and injured scores — last month, an attack in north-central Nigeria killed 150 people. The prolonged conflict has become deadlier in recent years, with authorities and analysts warning that more herdsmen are taking up arms.
The state's commissioner, Nasir Mu'azu, said the army and police have deployed in the area of Unguwan Mantau to prevent further attacks, adding that gunmen often hide among the crops out in farms during the rainy season to carry out assaults on communities.
He added that the mosque attack was likely in retaliation for an action Unguwan Mantau townspeople who over the weekend ambushed and killed several of the gunmen in the area.
Dozens of armed groups take also advantage of the limited security presence in Nigeria's mineral-rich regions, carrying out attacks on villages and along major roads.
The farmers accuse the herders, mostly of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on their farms and destroying their produce. The herders insist that the lands are grazing routes that were first backed by law in 1965, five years after the country gained its independence.
Separately from the conflict between farming and herding communities, Nigeria is battling to contain an insurgency against Boko Haram in the northeast, where some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than 2 million displaced, according to the United Nations.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
China to stage massive military parade marking WW2 surrender of Japan
BEIJING, Aug 20 (Reuters) - China will stage a massive military parade next month involving tens of thousands of people in the heart of Beijing to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War Two following the surrender of Japan. Hundreds of aircraft including fighter jets and bombers as well as ground equipment, some of which have never been seen in public before, will be featured in the parade, military officials said at a press conference. The September 3 parade, the second such procession since 2015 to observe the formal surrender of Japanese forces in 1945, will be a show of China's military strength as some of its neighbours and Western nations look on with concern over the projection of power by the People's Liberation Army in recent years. From trucks fitted with devices to take out drones, new tanks and early warning aircraft to protect China's aircraft carriers, military attaches and security analysts say they are expecting China to display a host of new weapons and equipment at the parade. Additions to its expanding suite of missiles, particularly anti-ship versions and weapons with hypersonic capabilities, will be particularly closely watched as the U.S. and its allies prepare to counter China in any future regional conflict. The 70-minute-long "Victory Day" parade, comprising 45 contingents of troops will be surveyed by President Xi Jinping at Tiananmen Square alongside a number of foreign leaders and dignitaries including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also attended the 2015 parade. Authorities have stepped up security in downtown Beijing since early August when the first large-scale parade rehearsal was held, setting up checkpoints, diverting road traffic and shutting shopping malls and office buildings.
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Shock details emerge after man sent Sunshine Coast childcare centre into lockdown and staff and children hid in a room while tense standoff unfolded with cops
A young man who took his own life at a Sunshine Coast childcare centre was an OnlyFans creator with a long history of crime that included drug trafficking. Reubhan Mickeal Gary Ralph, 29, was Tasered by police several times before using a sharp implement to take his life at Habitat Peregian Springs at 6pm on Monday. Five staff members and six children were forced to lock themselves in a room while the terrifying incident played out. Ralph was a fly-in, fly-out worker and OnlyFans content creator who was involved in a local drug syndicate and had a string of serious convictions, court records show. He was previously charged with stalking two women, one of whom was an employee at Maroochydore Police Station. In October 2023, Ralph applied for bail in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court, where police prosecutor Senior Constable Mark Burrell told the court the case against him was 'strong'. 'They are serious offences, there are two separate victims, which is more than normal, and the second victim is an employee of Queensland Police,' he said. Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin described the allegations as 'quite chilling' and highlighted the disturbing pattern of behaviour. 'The second complainant involves another woman who is a civilian working at a police station, and it seems the defendant has now taken an interest in this female, who he could only know through seeing his required visits to the police station,' Mr McLaughlin said. He said Ralph was a 'menace' whose actions left women fearing for their safety. 'It's said he has been loitering around the police station, photographing this woman and making lewd comments towards her, to the extent that she is now worried about even attending work,' the magistrate said. 'In all my years as a magistrate I have never seen a person simultaneously charged with stalking two different women, one of whom he barely knows, it's bizarre, it speaks of a man who has real problems. 'In the very least before I could feel comfortable letting him back into the community I'd need some sort of psychiatric report.' Ralph also played a role in a cocaine syndicate between November 2021 and May 2022, conducting drug deliveries and debt collections stretching from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast. He later pleaded guilty to trafficking and drug possession. In July last year, Ralph made headlines for stealing a truck from a Gold Coast construction site and going on a destructive rampage, smashing into cars and even an ambulance while recording the chaos on his phone. Ralph had armed himself with a sharp object and began smashing a glass door at the childcare centre on Monday. A police officer, working covertly inside the building, quietly guided the children and staff out to safety after the group had locked themselves inside a room. Police attempted to negotiate with Ralph before trying to remove him, which included the deployment of Tasers several times. Police say Ralph began to self-harm and consequently sustained serious injuries. Attending police rendered first aid before other emergency services arrived; however, he was declared dead a short time later. The incident is being treated as mental health-related. No one else was injured in the incident.
Reuters
42 minutes ago
- Reuters
Bandits kill at least 27 in northern Nigeria mosque attack, officials say
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Aug 19 (Reuters) - At least 27 worshippers were killed and several injured early on Tuesday when armed bandits stormed a mosque in northern Nigeria's Katsina state during morning prayers, the village head and a hospital official said. Gunmen opened fire inside a mosque as Muslims gathered to pray at around 04:00 GMT in the remote community of Unguwan Mantau in Malumfashi local government area, residents said.
