Militants Kill 46 People in Attack on Rural Village in Nigeria

By Staff, Agencies

Forty-six bodies have been found after gunmen attacked a rural village in central northern Nigeria, local government officials said, the latest in a series of deadly assaults in the region.

The attack took place on Wednesday in Umogidi in Benue state, where tit-for-tat clashes are common between nomadic herders and settled farmers competing for land and resources.

“The 46 casualties were from the bodies of victims found and retrieved. Many people are still missing, so the number of those killed may be higher,” Paul Hemba, the security adviser to the Benue state governor, told AFP.

Hemba blamed herdsmen, who he said had been attacking local communities over the past month. “Soldiers have been dispatched to the area, so the situation is a bit calm now,” he added.

The motive for the attack was not clear but Benue has been one of the hardest-hit by clashes between farmers and Fulani herders they accuse of destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.