Attacks by armed motorcycle gangs are to blame for the deaths of at least 32 other people in rural areas of northwestern Nigeria, citizens told The Associated Press.
Gunmen attacked 4 villages in the Kajuru region of Kaduna state on Sunday, Solomon, a resident of about 230 kilometers (143 miles) of Nigeria’s capital Abuja, said on Monday. The attackers moved from village to village for hours before leaving, he said. Said.
Poor telecommunications prevented citizens from reporting the attacks, as is the case in parts of northern Nigeria.
News of the killings in Kaduna state comes shortly after more than 30 people were killed in an attack on a Catholic church on Sunday in southwestern Ondo, a state known in the past as one of Nigeria’s safest.
Nigeria’s National Security Council said Thursday that the attack in Ondo was carried out by extremist Islamic State rebels in the West African province, confirming alarms issued abroad through local government and security analysts that militants who have been confined to the northeast for many years are seeking to expand their influence and succeed in other parts of the country.
Following the recent attack in Kaduna State, at least 32 bodies were recovered from villages, according to the Adara Development Association. He said survivors continued to “comb the surrounding trees in search of more corpses. “Another 28 people have been buried,the citizens said.
In the Kajuru area, the attackers arrived on more than a hundred motorcycles, said Usman Danladi, a resident. Many villagers “took their hills and fled into the bushes (but) they (the attackers) followed them with motorcycles and killed many. “Danladi said.
“Twenty-eight more people have been buried since then and we can’t say if they are all buried because many corpses are being picked up from the bush,” Danladi said.
More than 20 other people have been kidnapped and kidnappers are asking for cash for their release, he added.
Such attacks have become common in troubled northwestern Nigeria. Thousands of others died in the violence, according to data compiled by the U. S. -based Council on Foreign Relations. USA.
The gunmen in the most recent violence were “armed Peuhl militiamen,” a Danladi resident said. ” he said.
Fulani herders, who are mostly Muslim, have clashed for decades with sedentary farmers over access to land for grazing. The rivalry has become fatal in recent years, as gangs of gunmen attack rural communities.
In one of the villages, citizens first controlled to push them back before a helicopter arrived and “started shooting at young people from the air,” Awemi Dio Maisamari, national president of the Adara association, said in a statement.
Neither police nor Kaduna state officials have yet shown the attacks. The limited security presence in many remote communities in Nigeria makes it difficult for government forces to protect citizens from attacks or temporarily arrest perpetrators, analysts say.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of not doing enough to end the country’s security woes, a key crusade promise made by the former army general when he ran in 2015. Buhari’s term as president ends in May next year after 8 years in power. .
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