Local officials in Nigeria report that at least 74 people were killed in two separate attacks by gunmen on a rural village in the central northern state of Benue as violence increases in the region.
The area has experienced frequent clashes between nomadic herders and settled farmers as population growth has led to an expansion of the area dedicated to farming, leaving less land available for open grazing by nomads’ cattle herds.
The humanitarian situation in Nigeria is declining as intercommunal violence has led to wider criminal activity in the north-west and centre of the country, where heavily armed bandits plunder villages and abduct the inhabitants for ransom.
On Friday, gangs of armed men kidnapped at least 80 people, mostly women and children, in Zamfara state,
