ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least 140 people were killed by gunmen who attacked remote villages in Nigeria's north-central Plateau state for two days, survivors and officials said Tuesday, in the latest mass killing this year attributed to the West African country Farmer-herder crisis.
Attackers targeted 17 communities during “senseless and unprovoked” attacks on Saturday and Sunday, burning most of the houses in the areas, Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang said in a broadcast on local broadcaster Television on Tuesday.
“As I speak to you, we have buried 15 people in Mangu local government alone. This morning we count no fewer than 100 corpses in Bokkos. I am yet to take stock of the deaths in Barkin Ladi,” Governor Mutfwan said. “It was a very terrible Christmas for us here in Plateau.”
Amnesty International's Nigeria office told The Associated Press that it had confirmed 140 deaths so far in the Christian-dominated Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi townships of Plateau, based on data compiled by its field staff and local officials, although Locals feared a death could occur, with a higher death toll and some people missing.
Some of the locals said it took more than 12 hours for security agencies to respond to their call for help. That claim could not be independently verified by the AP, but reflects earlier concerns about slow interventions in Nigeria's deadly security crisis that has killed hundreds of people this year, including in Plateau.
“I called security but they never came. The ambush started at 6 p.m. but security forces reached our house at 7 a.m.,” said Sunday Dawum, a youth leader in Bokkos. At least 27 people were killed in his village of Mbom Mbaru, including his brother, he said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the blame fell on herdsmen of the Fulani tribe, who were accused of carrying out such mass killings in the northwest and central regions, where decades-long conflict over access to land and water has continued denominational divide has further deepened between Christians and Muslims in Africa's most populous country.
The Nigerian army said it had begun “clearance operations” with the help of other security agencies in search of the suspects, although arrests in such attacks are rare.
“We will not rest until we bring to book all those responsible for these heinous acts,” said Abdullsalam Abubakar, who commands the army’s special operations in Plateau and neighboring states.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was elected this year after promising to help address security challenges that his predecessor failed to address, has yet to make public comments on the latest attacks days after them.
Tinubu's government and others have historically failed to take “tangible measures” to protect lives and ensure justice for victims in the conflict-affected northern region, Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria, told the AP.
“Sometimes they claim to make arrests but there is no evidence of this… The brazen failure of the authorities to protect the people of Nigeria is gradually becoming the 'norm',” he said.