Armed gangs in Nigeria have targeted villages and killed at least 160 people while wounding more than 300 others.
On Monday, local government officials reported the happenings, which marked a sharp rise from the initial figure that the country's army said on Sunday evening. During that time, there were only 16 fatalities reported in a region that religious and ethnic tensions have plagued for several years.
Nigeria Gang Attack
In a statement, the head of the local government in Books, Plateau State, Monday Kassah said that there were as many as 113 people who were confirmed to have been killed as Saturday hostilities persisted to the early hours of Monday.
Kassah noted that armed groups, locally known as "bandits," launched what he said were "well-coordinated" attacks in not fewer than 20 different communities in Nigeria. He added that the assailants even torched houses.
The official noted that they discovered more than 300 people wounded and added that they had been transferred to hospitals in Bokkos, Jos, and Barkin Ladi. The local Red Cross issued a provisional toll of 104 deaths in 18 villages in the Bokkos region, as per The Guardian.
A member of the state parliament, Dickson Chollom said that at least 50 people were also reported to have died in several other villages in the Barkin Ladi area. He also condemned the attacks and called on the security forces to swiftly act against the local gangs.
Chollom said they would not succumb to the tactics of the "merchants of death." He added that they are united in pursuing justice and lasting peace within the region.
The armed groups' attacks started in the Bokkos area and later expanded into neighboring Barkin Ladi, where 30 people were found dead. Plateau State Gov. Caleb Mutfwang on Sunday condemned the violence and called it "barbaric, brutal, and unjustified."
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Hundreds Dead and Wounded
The incidents come as Plateau is infamous for clashes between herders and farmers and inter-communal conflict in the area has claimed hundreds of lives in the past few years. According to DW News, a spokesperson for Mutfwang, Gyang Bere said they were taking proactive measures to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians.
Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog, has also criticized the Nigerian government for its "brazen failure" to protect its people. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the group said that the Nigerian authorities have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state.
The latest attacks come a few months after a previous series of armed gang violence that occurred in July. At the time, at least 34 people, including seven soldiers, lost their lives when a group of armed individuals in Nigeria's northwest Zamfara state launched an attack.
A resident of the area, Lawali Zonai, said that 27 villagers were killed in the attack and noted that the seven military personnel were ambushed on their way to support the community from the brutal assault, said Reuters.
