At least 160 people were killed in attacks by armed groups between Saturday evening and Monday in several villages in Plateau State, central Nigeria, local authorities announced on Monday.
On Monday, Kassah, the chairman of the Bokkos government council, a constituency located in the region that has been plagued by religious and ethnic tensions for several years, told reporters that the hostilities that broke out on Saturday continued on Monday morning.
At least 113 bodies have been found, he added, whereas the death toll given by the army on Sunday evening was 160.
He said “more than 300 people” were wounded and transferred to hospitals in Bokkos, Jos and Barkin Ladi.
Armed groups, locally referred to as “bandits,” attacked “no less than 20 villages” between Saturday evening and Monday morning, he added, stressing that “the attacks were well coordinated.”.
In addition to the 113 dead in the Bokkos constituency, “at least 50 people were killed” in four villages in the neighbouring Barkin Ladi constituency, according to Dickson Chollom, a member of the local assembly.
On Sunday, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang described the armed action as “barbaric, brutal and unjustified.”.
Gunfire could still be heard late Sunday afternoon, according to a local source.
The populations of north-western and central Nigeria live in terror attacks by jihadist groups and criminal gangs who pillage villages and kill or kidnap their inhabitants.
The conflict has continued to roil the country’s northern and central regions, where armed groups are active and government forces have been accused of committing abuses.
For years, bitter competition has raged between transhumant herders and sedentary farmers over natural resources in central and north-western Nigeria, with the latter accusing the former of plundering their land with their livestock.
This month, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation after a military drone strike killed 85 civilians gathered for a religious celebration.
Tinubu lamented what he called the “bombing mishap.”.
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani said at the time that the civilians were mistakenly killed by a drone targeting “terrorists and bandits.”.
