Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
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Gunmen kill at least 100 people in Nigeria’s Benue state

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At least 100 people have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a village in Nigeria’s central Benue state, Amnesty International Nigeria said Saturday.

The attack took place from late Friday into the early hours of Saturday in the village of Yelewata, the group said in a post on social media platform X.

“Many people are still missing…dozens injured and left without adequate medical care. Many families were locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms,” the post added.

Benue is in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a region where the majority Muslim North meets the largely Christian South.

The region faces competition over land use, with conflicts between herders, who seek grazing land for their cattle, and farmers, who need arable land for cultivation. These tensions are often worsened by overlapping ethnic and religious divisions.

Last month, at least 42 people were shot dead by suspected herders in a series of weekend attacks across Gwer West district in Nigeria’s central Benue state.

Since 2019, the clashes have claimed more than 500 lives in the region and forced 2.2 million to leave their homes, according to research firm SBM Intelligence.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/odO3XgH

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