Armed attackers killed at least 20 people, mostly women, and children, and burned down houses in the latest communal clash in Plateau State, residents and a state official confirmed on Tuesday.
Plateau is one of several ethnically and religiously diverse hinterland states known as Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where hundreds of people have been killed in violent clashes between farmers and semi-nomadic herders.
Residents reported the attackers arrived in the early hours of Tuesday in Kubat village, in the state’s Mangu local government area.
According to Jeremiah Samson, who observed the attack, the attackers began firing randomly, and when some residents attempted to leave, they were shot and killed.
It remained unclear who carried out the attack.
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has urged state security personnel to pursue the attackers, according to state spokeswoman Makut Macham, who did not confirm the number of injuries.
The Middle Belt conflict is frequently portrayed as an ethnoreligious conflict between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers.
Many academics and politicians, however, believe that climate change and increased agriculture are increasing competition for land, putting farmers and herders in perpetual confrontation, regardless of faith or ethnicity.
