PLATEAU, Nigeria – Mediaage NG News – The death toll in weekend attacks in the central Nigerian state of Plateau on Tuesday rose to 160, while at least, 300 persons remain injured, local sources say, in a region where clashes between herders and farmers are common.
The AFP News Agency had on Sunday reported that the Nigerian army said 16 persons were killed in the farmers-herders attack on Saturday.
It is the worst outbreak of violence in Plateau since May, when more than 100 were killed in similar fashion.
Acting chairman of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, Monday Kassah, said 113 people had been killed in the attacks on Saturday and Sunday.
“The attacks were well-coordinated. Not fewer than 20 different communities were attacked by the bandits”, he said.
“We have recovered 113 (as at Monday) dead bodies from those communities. We have recovered more than 300 injured.”
Kassah did not say who was responsible for the attacks. He added that the injured had been taken to hospital.
On Sunday, Plateau State governor Caleb Mutfwang condemned the violence, calling it “barbaric, brutal and unjustified”.
“Proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians,” said Gyang Bere, the governor’s spokesperson.
Plateau is one of several ethnically and religiously diverse hinterland states known as Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where inter-communal conflict has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years.
The violence is often painted as ethno-religious conflict between Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers. But climate change and expanding agriculture are also major factors.