BSS
  20 Jun 2025, 19:39

Fresh attacks hit central Nigeria after president's crackdown call

JOS, Nigeria, June 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Two fresh attacks have killed 15 
people in Nigeria's central Plateau state, local officials said on Friday, 
days after President Bola Tinubu ordered a crackdown on violence in the 
region.

The violence comes a week after at least 20 other people were killed in 
Plateau's Mangu local government area.

Ethnic Fulani nomadic Muslim herders in the state have long clashed with 
settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and 
resources.

Attacks in the region often fall across ethnic and religious lines, leading 
to sectarian reprisals.

"I can confirm that we have 10 people killed, in Jwangur village. We are now 
doing the burial," the chairman of the Bokkos local government council, 
Amalau Samuel, told AFP via telephone.

The attackers stormed the area on Thursday night and opened fire, he said.

A survivor from a distant house said they heard gunshots around midnight.

"We were sleeping when we heard gunshots and in the morning 10 people were 
discovered dead," Maren Joseph told AFP.

A separate attack on Thursday night killed five people in the Mangu area 
neighbouring Bokkos, said Emmanuel Bala, chairman of the local government 
council.

"Five people were killed on their farms by bandits suspected to be fleeing 
from Benue state," where more than 100 people were killed last week, Bala 
said, adding that the "killers used knives to slaughter the victims".

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday ordered security agencies to 
crack down on the violence raging in the region.