Dozens of people were killed by gunmen in attacks on villages in central Nigeria, the latest violence blamed on criminal gangs, several local sources said on Tuesday (April 12th).
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Sunday's attacks, among the worst since the beginning of the year, and a recent major assault on a train in neighboring Kaduna state illustrate the growing insecurity in the northwest and center of the country. the most populous in Africa.
Gunmen attacked four villages in Plateau state on Sunday, killing more than 100 people, said two local officials and a vigilante commander.
Security forces and local authorities have confirmed the violence without, however, giving a toll of the victims.
“A lot of people were killed”
“
Many people have been killed and their homes destroyed
,” Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong said in a statement.
A local official, Malam Usman Abdula, said for his part that the bodies of 54 people were found in Kukawa, as well as those of 16 members of a vigilante group in Shuwaka and those of 30 villagers in Gyambahu.
He also said that four other people were found dead in other villages.
"
People are still looking for their loved ones
," he said.
The commander of a self-defense group, Bala Yahaya, meanwhile told AFP that 107 bodies had been found, including those of 16 members of his group.
Another local official mentioned the same assessment.
According to residents, numerous burials were organized on Monday for the victims of the attacks.
Commander Ishaku Takwa, spokesman for a military unit, said on Monday that many villages had been ransacked but the number of casualties was still being verified.
Mass attacks and kidnappings
Northwestern and central Nigeria have for years been the scene of disputes between predominantly Muslim nomadic pastoralists and Christian cultivators over control of water and land.
With climate change, conflicts have multiplied, and different communities have mobilized armed groups to ensure their protection.
Some have turned to criminal activity.
These "
bandits
" carry out mass kidnappings in schools, loot villages and kill those who resist or those whose families cannot pay the ransoms.
And their attacks are increasing despite military operations aimed at driving them out of their hiding places in the forest.
Gunmen launched a major attack on a train linking the capital Abuja and the northwestern city of Kaduna in late March, killing at least eight people and kidnapping an unknown number of passengers.
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The kidnappers then released several videos of the hostages, one of them showing about 20 people sitting in a forest area, surrounded by heavily armed men.
Nigeria's security forces are struggling to cope with widespread insecurity, particularly in the northeast, plagued by a 12-year-old jihadist insurgency, where Boko Haram and the Islamic State are rampant.
This conflict left more than 40,000 dead and 2 million displaced.