At least 160 villagers killed by bandits in central Nigeria

At least 160 people have been killed by armed gangs of bandits in central Nigeria, according to local officials and human rights groups, the worst outbreak of violence this year in a region where ethno-religious tensions have simmered for decades.

The attacks, which began on Saturday and continued into Christmas Day, targeted some 20 villages across the Bokkos and Barkin Ladi areas of Plateau state.

Monday Kassah, Bokkos acting local government chair, told reporters that 113 bodies had been recovered by Christmas Day, with rescue operations still ongoing. “The attacks were well-co-ordinated. Not fewer than 20 different communities were attacked by the bandits,” he said.

Dickson Chollom, a member of the state parliament, told the AFP news agency that “at least 50 people were killed” in attacks on four villages in Barkin Ladi.

Human rights group Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said the death toll had risen to more than 140, “as more dead bodies of those who tried to escape the attacks are found by search teams”.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks that also left more than 300 injured and forced villagers to flee their homes.

The region and other parts of central and northern Nigeria are plagued by roving armed groups, referred to locally as bandits, that pillage villages on motorcycles, rustle cattle and kidnap people, including schoolchildren, for profit. The bandits also have interests in illegal mining across the region.

Plateau, where Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north and Christian south converge, an area known as the Middle Belt, has also been particularly vulnerable to decades-long intercommunal violence between different ethnic and religious groups. There are also fights over dwindling resources such as water and land between itinerant herders and sedentary farmers.

Successive Nigerian governments have failed to stem the tide of violence.

The Christmas attack is the most serious since more than 100 people were killed by unknown assailants in communities across Plateau in May. A total of 421 people have been killed in these attacks in the six months to October, according to a tally by a local newspaper.

The clashes feed into Nigeria’s declining economic output and high food-price inflation, as many farmers have been driven away from their land.

Amnesty said Nigerian authorities had failed in their duty to “end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state” and blamed President Bola Tinubu for his “empty” promises to enact lasting security measures to halt the violence.

“Nigerian authorities must impartially and effectively investigate these attacks,” Amnesty said. “Tinubu must do more than merely condemning these horrific attacks. Suspected perpetrators must be promptly brought to justice.”

A presidential spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.