Local officials said on Monday that armed groups have killed at least 160 people in central Nigeria in a series of attacks on villages, The Guardian reports.
The death toll was up sharply from an initial figure released Sunday night, with just 16 people killed in a region that has been plagued by religious and ethnic tensions for years. Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, told AFP:
As many as 113 persons have been confirmed killed as Saturday hostilities persisted to early hours of Monday.
Armed groups, locally called “bandits”, launched “well-coordinated” attacks in “not fewer than 20 different communities” and torched houses, Kassah said. He added:
We found more than 300 wounded people who were transferred to hospitals in Bokkos, Jos and Barkin Ladi.
The local Red Cross office says 104 people have been killed in 18 villages in the Bokkos region. State MP Dickson Chollom said at least 50 people were also killed in several villages in the Barkin Ladi area. He condemned the attacks and called for swift action by security forces. Chollom said:
We will not succumb to the tactics of these merchants of death. We are united in our pursuit of justice and lasting peace.
The attacks started in Bokkos area and spilled over into neighbouring Barkin Ladi, where the bodies of 30 people were found, according to local chairman Danjuma Dakil. On Sunday, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang condemned the violence, describing it as “barbaric, brutal and unjustifiable.” Gyang Bere, the governor’s spokesperson, said:
Proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians.
Amnesty International has strongly criticised the government, saying in a post on website X that “Nigerian authorities have failed to put an end to frequent deadly attacks on rural communities in Plateau State”.
Nigeria’s northwest and centre have long been terrorised by bandit militias operating from bases deep in the forests and raiding villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom. Social tensions have been fuelled by competition for natural resources between nomadic herders and farmers, exacerbated by rapid population growth and climatic conditions.
A jihadist conflict has been raging in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing some 2 million as Boko Haram battles for supremacy with opponents linked to the Islamic State group.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos, has pledged to attract more investment in Africa’s largest economy and most populous country to address persistent security concerns.
