Abuja: About 100 people were killed by gunmen in the Yelewata village in Benue state. The region is known for conflicts between farmers and herders.
According to Deutsche Welle, gunmen killed at least 100 people in the Yelewata village in Nigeria’s Benue state late Friday, Amnesty International Nigeria said. “Many people are still missing…dozens injured and left without adequate medical care. Many families were locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms,” the human rights organization said in a social media post.
Benue state lies in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, in the center of the Muslim-majority north and the Christian-majority south. The region often sees violence over access to land and water resources between farmers and herders, worsened by ethnic and religious tensions.
Violence in the region has claimed 500 lives since 2019, and displaced thousands of others, as per data by Nigerian geopolitical research consultancy SBM Intelligence. Last month, gunmen believed to be herders killed at least 20 in the Gw
er West district in Benue. In April, 40 were killed in the nearby state of Plateau.