ABUJA, Nigeria — Not less than 100 folks have been killed in a gun assault on a village in Nigeria ’s north-central Benue state, Amnesty Worldwide Nigeria mentioned Saturday.
The assault happened between late Friday and the early hours of Saturday in Yelewata, a group within the Guma space of the state, the rights group mentioned in a Fb submit.
Dozens of persons are nonetheless lacking, and tons of had been injured and with out ample medical care, it added.
“Many households had been locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms. So many our bodies had been burnt past recognition,” Amnesty mentioned.
Graphic movies and pictures on social media platforms confirmed what seemed to be corpses and burnt down homes within the aftermath of the assault.
Udeme Edet, a spokesperson of the police in Benue, confirmed that an assault happened in Yelewata, however didn’t specify how many individuals had been killed.
Whereas it stays unclear who was liable for the killings, such attacks are common in Nigeria’s northern area the place native herders and farmers usually conflict over restricted entry to land and water.
The farmers accuse the herders, largely of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on their farms and destroying their produce. The herders insist that the lands are grazing routes that had been first backed by legislation in 1965, 5 years after the nation gained its independence.
Final month, gunmen, believed to be herders, killed at least 20 people within the Gwer West space of Benue. In April, at the very least 40 folks had been killed within the neighbouring state of Plateau.
Benue State Gov. Hyacinth Alia has despatched a delegation to Yelewat to help relations of the victims.