Nigerian authorities say armed teams often known as ‘bandits’ hit 20 communities and injure greater than 300 folks.
Armed teams have killed greater than 100 folks in a string of assaults focusing on cities throughout central Nigeria, one other lethal episode in a area with persistent spiritual and ethnic tensions.
Local officers on Monday stated the toll of the weekend assaults by armed teams, generally known as “bandits”, has risen to 113, growing sharply from the federal government’s preliminary rely of 16.
“As many as 113 persons have been confirmed killed as Saturday hostilities persisted to early hours of Monday,” Monday Kassah, head of the native authorities in Bokkos in Plateau State, advised the Agence France-Presse information company.
Kassah stated the “well-coordinated” assaults, which additionally injured greater than 300 folks, focused a minimum of 20 communities throughout the area.
“Proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians,” stated Gyang Bere, a spokesperson for Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
Kassah didn’t say who was answerable for the assaults however famous that the injured have been taken to hospital.
Plateau is one in every of a number of states that make up the ethnically and religiously various Middle Belt in Nigeria, the place local weather change and increasing agriculture has strained communities and elevated tensions between Muslim herders and Christian farmers.
Hundreds of individuals have been killed in instances of intercommunal violence in recent times.
After the weekend assaults, the rights group Amnesty International stated authorities within the West African nation “have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state”.
Conflict has continued to roil the nation’s northern and central areas, the place armed teams are energetic and authorities forces have been accused of committing abuses.
This month, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation after a army drone strike killed 85 civilians gathered for a non secular celebration.
Tinubu lamented what he known as the “bombing mishap”.
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani stated on the time that the civilians have been mistakenly killed by a drone focusing on “terrorists and bandits”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/25/armed-groups-kill-113-people-in-series-of-attacks-across-central-nigeria?traffic_source=rss
