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Free Malaysia Today
02-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Gunmen kill 25 in restive central Nigeria
Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by violence between nomadic herders and farmers. (AFP pic) JOS : Gunmen over the weekend killed 25 people in two attacks across north-central Nigeria's Benue state, local authorities told AFP today, the latest violence in a region known for deadly land disputes and reprisals. Attackers killed 14 people yesterday in the community of Ankpali, said Adam Ochega, chairman of the Apa local government council, warning that 'there are still some threats here and there'. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources. In a recent report, Amnesty International tallied 6,896 people killed over the last two years in Benue, part of Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, a mixed-religious region where such disputes often take on a sectarian dimension. A police spokesman confirmed the attack but did not provide a toll. In a similar attack yesterday evening on Naka village, of Gwer West local government area, 11 people were killed by what authorities said were suspected Fulani militias. 'So far we have recovered 11 dead bodies and five people are confirmed injured,' Gwer West council chairman Ormin Victor told AFP. Last month, 44 people were killed in a span of four days in Gwer West. Motives for the violence in that attack were not clear, but Victor blamed the 'coordinated attacks' on Fulani cattle herders. Herders across the region meanwhile say they are also the victims of deadly attacks by farmers, land grabs and cattle poisonings. Land used by farmers and herders in central Nigeria is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space. Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by such violence between nomadic herders and farmers who blame herdsmen for destroying farmland with their cattle grazing. When violence flares, weak policing all but guarantees indiscriminate reprisal attacks, which often occur across communal lines. A spate of attacks across Benue and neighbouring Plateau state left more than 150 people dead in April alone. Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between local 'indigenes' and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in Plateau state in recent decades.
News24
27-05-2025
- General
- News24
Nigeria attacks kill 44: local official
At least 44 people, including children and a pregnant woman, were killed in coordinated attacks in Benue state, Nigeria, over four days. Local officials blamed Fulani herders for the raids, describing them as systematic and brutal, with some victims mutilated. A Catholic priest was shot and wounded, and two passengers were abducted during one of the attacks; police confirmed fewer casualties. At least 44 people have been killed in separate attacks in recent days in central Nigeria, a local government official said on Tuesday, raising the toll in the latest raids in a region where herders and farmers often clash. The attacks occurred in three villages between Friday and Monday, the chairperson of the Gwer West local government area of Benue state, Ormin Torsar Victor, told AFP. Motives for the violence were not clear, but Victor blamed the 'coordinated attacks' on Fulani cattle herders. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources. 'As of today morning, I passed through Aondona, they were mentioning 14 bodies that have been recovered, including a pregnant woman and a boy of two,' he told AFP, adding that 30 others were killed in Ahume. 'Yesterday evening one person was killed, the number keeps increasing by the day. Even now I think some corpses have not yet been discovered,' he said, calling the attacks 'systematic'. The victims were either shot or stabbed, he said. He said the 'pregnant woman was macheted' while the two-year-old boy was 'mutilated'. A Catholic priest was shot and wounded while driving along the Markudi-Naka road, the church and the local government official said. 'They shot him and left him there thinking he was dead,' said Victor, adding that two passengers that were with him were abducted. In a call for prayers for the wounded priest posted on Facebook, the church said he was shot by 'suspected terrorist herdsmen'. 'Coordinated attacks' A resident of Aondona, Ruthie Dan Sam, told AFP late on Monday that '20 people were killed here in Aondona'. She said: Children of less than two are being killed. The worst sight is a baby macheted on its mouth. She added that other people had been killed in neighbouring villages, but said she had no figures. Victor said he and other locals had buried five people, including a father and two of his sons killed in the village of Tewa Biana 'very close to a military base'. Benue state police spokesperson Anene Sewuese Catherine confirmed two attacks in the area but said her office had received 'no report of 20 people' killed. She said that one raid resulted in the death of a policeman who had 'repelled an attack' and that 'three dead bodies were discovered'. The attacks in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt often take on a religious or ethnic dimension. Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by such violence between nomadic herders and farmers who blame herders for destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.
