Gunmen kill at least 21 farmers in central Nigeria attack

ABUJA: Unidentified gunmen killed at least 21 farmers and injured several others in an overnight attack on a village in Nigeria's central Plateau state, according to local authorities and residents cited by AFP.

Bokkos local government council chairman Amalau Samuel Amalau said the killings took place on Sunday night in Kawel village. He told AFP that arrangements were being made for the victims' burial.

Residents said the attackers entered the village and opened fire indiscriminately. Joseph Marren said he went inside his home after hearing gunshots and stayed there until morning.

In comments to AFP, Marren said, "I entered my house soon after I heard gunshots. I did not come out, but in the early hours of Monday, we saw some people already dead."

Marren confirmed a death toll of 21. Another resident, Amarudu John, said some of his neighbours were among the victims and others were wounded, putting the death toll at at least 21.

Plateau state has for years experienced recurring violence in rural areas, where conflicts often pit mostly Christian farming communities against semi-nomadic Muslim herders. The disputes are frequently linked to access to land, which has come under increasing strain from climate change and population growth.

Weak policing and a lack of accountability for killings have often fuelled reprisal attacks along communal lines in the religiously mixed state. Tensions over land access have also been aggravated by illegal mining and allegations of land grabbing.

Last year, Bokkos district witnessed another major assault that left about 50 people dead. At the time, a local government official described the bloodshed as ethnic and religious cleansing and blamed attackers speaking the Fulani dialect, an allegation rejected by an association representing Fulani herders.

Because the violence often overlaps religious and ethnic divisions, with herders largely Muslim and farmers largely Christian, some have characterised the attacks as genocide or persecution against Christians. The AFP report said such language, which is disputed by experts, has found support among parts of the religious right in the United States and Europe.

Last week, the United Nations special rapporteur on religious freedom said impunity for armed groups was fuelling genocide claims in Nigeria after a two-week visit to the country that included Plateau state. The White House also used similar rhetoric last year when US President Donald Trump pressed Nigeria diplomatically over the violence.