World News | Government: Gunmen in North Nigeria Kill at Least 16 People
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Gunmen killed at least 16 people during an attack in northwest Nigeria, the government said Sunday.
Abuja, Mar 12 (AP) Gunmen killed at least 16 people during an attack in northwest Nigeria, the government said Sunday.
The assailants stormed the Zangon Kataf Local Government Area in Kaduna state and opened fire Saturday after a confrontation with police at a checkpoint, Yabo Ephraim, a spokesperson for the local government told The Associated Press.
Authorities imposed a curfew in the area after the attack.
The attackers were ethnic Fulani, a group of mostly nomadic pastoralists who have been embroiled in a long conflict with farmers over limited access to water and land, Ephraim said.
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Before the shootings, a fight had broken out between some villagers and a small group of Fulani men. The latter left the scene and later returned in larger numbers with guns and machetes, the government spokesperson said.
"They were strategically stationed at certain places and began to open fire in the community. They chased them even right into their homes. Wherever you are hiding, they will shoot you,” Ephraim added.
Such attacks are not rare in Nigeria, especially in the country's hard-hit north. The pastoral conflict has evolved into various armed groups carrying out acts of violence, defying government and security measures for years.
On Sunday, young people in the Ungwan Wakili community, where Saturday's attack took place, protested the killings and accused Nigerian soldiers of failing to stop the violence despite being in the area at the time. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)