By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) – At least eight people were killed and three others injured when gunmen stormed two villages in Nigeria’s Plateau state, police said late Wednesday.
Terna Tyopev, a police spokesman in Plateau, said unknown gunmen attacked Abonong and Zayit villages in the Barkin Ladi area of the state late Tuesday into early Wednesday, setting much of the communities alight.
“As a result of the attack, Eight people lost their lives, three people were injured, 95 houses were burnt down and 310 cattle were stolen. Property and foodstuffs were [also] looted and destroyed,” Tyopev said.
“The Police Command has deployed more personnel to the areas to prevent further attacks. An investigation is ongoing to track and arrest the perpetrators of the dastardly act to face the consequences of their actions.”
The attacks are the latest in a chain of violence in central Nigeria where herders and farmers are locked in a deadly crisis over land ownership and grazing rights, leading to hundreds of deaths and mass displacement this year alone.
Experts have blamed the crisis partly on shrinking water levels at Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, the southward movement of herders in search of pastures for their cattle, farming activities on historical grazing routes and the government's failure to proactively strike a balance between the interests of the farmers and the herdsmen.
