 "Representational image. Reuters")
At least 100 people were killed when gunmen attacked the village of Yelewata in Nigeria’s central Benue state, Amnesty International Nigeria said on Saturday.
The attack began late Friday night and continued into early Saturday. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Amnesty said many people are still missing, and dozens were injured without access to proper medical care.
“Many families were locked inside their bedrooms and burned,” the group added.
“Amnesty International has been documenting the alarming escalation of attacks across Benue state where gunmen have been on a killing spree with utter impunity. These attacks have been causing massive displacement and may affect food security as majority of the victims are farmers.”
Benue state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, sits between the mostly Muslim North and largely Christian South. The region often sees violence between herders looking for grazing land and farmers trying to protect their crops.
These land disputes are made worse by ethnic and religious tensions.
Last month, suspected herders killed at least 42 people in attacks across the Gwer West district. Since 2019, such clashes have killed over 500 people and forced around 2.2 million to flee their homes, according to SBM Intelligence.