Herder-farmer clashes in Nigeria kill at least 17

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At least 17 people are reported to have been killed as suspected nomadic cattle herders carried out twin attacks in central Nigeria‘s Benue State.

Police spokesperson Anene Sewuese Catherine said in a statement on Friday that “a large number of suspected militia had invaded” a region of Benue State overnight. The attack came amid a resurgence of deadly clashes between herders and farmers, a conflict that has killed hundreds over recent years.

Security forces were deployed and as the assailants “were being repelled in the early hours of today, they shot sporadically at unsuspecting farmers” killing five farmers in Benue’s Ukum area.

Police said a second attack took place in Logo, about 70km from the area of the first incident.

“Unfortunately an unsuspected simultaneous attack was carried out” in a neighbouring locality, where 12 people were killed before police arrived, the police spokesperson said.

The attacks came just two days after 11 people were killed in the Otukpo area of Benue, and barely a week after gunmen attacked villages and killed more than 50 people in neighbouring Plateau State.