(USNewsBreak.com) – Armed gangs are known for terrorizing local villages, killing those who get in their way in religious and ethnic-motivated rampages. A recent attack in Nigeria has resulted in well over 100 dead and hundreds more injured.
Over the holiday weekend, gunmen went on a mass killing spree in Nigeria’s Plateau state in what officials believe has resulted from ongoing tensions over the farmer-herder crisis. According to ABC News, Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang spoke to the public in a news broadcast and said gangs had targeted 17 communities. Initially, Mutfwang relayed reports of 15 dead, but that number quickly climbed. At one point, he noted there were “not less than 100 corpses” in the Bokkos area, and at the time of the report, authorities hadn’t tallied the number of deaths in Barkin Ladi. The death toll is likely to continue climbing because officials still haven’t accounted for many in the region. One report from Al Jazeera put the death toll at 198 on December 27. Other recent reports provide numbers in the 140 to 160 range.
In addition to the hefty number of deceased, hundreds more suffered injuries. Locals say they called for help, but they experienced prolonged response times. Youth leader Sunday Dawum said his group called at 6 p.m. when the ambush started, but it took security forces until 7 a.m. the following morning to arrive.
As of the time of writing, no group had taken responsibility for the attacks, but many believed the assailants included members of the Fulani tribe, comprised primarily of herders. A longstanding regional dispute over water and land has driven religious tensions between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria higher.
Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s newly elected president, ordered “immediate mobilization of relief resources” and enlisted security agencies to “scour every stretch of the zone and apprehend the culprits.” Yet, despite this, arrests for such attacks in the country remain rare. Residents have expressed skepticism over whether the government will hold anyone accountable for the shocking number of deaths. Mutfwang and Tinubu have yet to prove themselves.
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