Abuja - At least nine people were killed when suspected
herdsmen attacked farmers in north-central Nigeria, police said
Friday.
Numerous others were injured in the attack on the village of Tse Ujoh
in Benue State, said the state's police chief, Moses Yamu.
The spokesman of Benue State's governor said three people were
arrested in connection with the attack, while soldiers had been
dispatched to the affected area.
"They stormed the community in their usual military style and started
shooting at everyone in sight and there was confusion all over the
place as the people ran for their lives," a school teacher in the
village, Member Laha, told dpa via telephone.
"They were heavily armed with [automatic] rifles," Laha added.
Violence between farmers and herders killed 1,300 civilians in the
first half of 2018, six times more than the Boko Haram insurgency,
according to research organization International Crisis Group (ICG).
The conflict is fundamentally a land-use contest between farmers and
herders across the Nigeria's middle belt, mostly affecting the states
of Adamawa, Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba.
It has taken on dangerous religious and ethnic dimensions, as most of
herders are from the traditionally nomadic and Muslim Fulani group,
while most farmers are Christians of various ethnicities.
Since the violence escalated in January 2018, an estimated 300,000
people have fled their homes, according to the ICG.