JOS, Nigeria — Weekend raids by gunmen in a central Nigerian state left more than 100 dead, an official said yesterday, as the governor widened a curfew to restore calm in the flashpoint area.
Plateau state falls in Nigeria’s so-called “Middle Belt,” where the south meets the north, which has been the site of waves of sectarian violence in recent years.
The weekend attacks were blamed on gunmen from the Fulani, a pastoralist, ethnic group with long-standing land rights grievances and resentment against the state’s leaders who control political power.
At least 80 died when Fulani herdsmen raided several villages on Saturday, the spokesman for the state’s governor, Pam Ayuba, said.
On Sunday, they stormed a graveyard in Barkin-Ladi, roughly 90 km from the state capital, where some of the victims of the previous day’s attack were being buried, Ayuba added. — AFP
