NIGERIA: Thirty-seven people are killed as gunmen open fire on four villages in the ethnically and religiously divided Plateau state of central Nigeria

Record ID: 236261

  • Title: NIGERIA: Thirty-seven people are killed as gunmen open fire on four villages in the ethnically and religiously divided Plateau state of central Nigeria
  • Date: 27th November 2013
  • Summary: JOS, NIGERIA (NOVEMBER 26, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) COVERED BODIES IN GRAVE PEOPLE TRHOWING SAND TO COVER THE BODIES IN GRAVE (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOS RESIDENT, PAM YAKUBU, SAYING: "Yesterday, we were here around this place, so we heard gunshots so I came out, I saw many people shooting and I ran back inside. I could not do anything so I went back. Around 12, I saw them because it was night, I don't know whether they wore uniform or not. As soon as I saw them I rushed back quickly, they were speaking good English." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOS RESIDENT, DUNG GYES, SAYING: "In fact, none of us was able to help each other because they were too many in the village of which they decided with one house like that. They even operated there and they killed one girl like that in the room and about five they are now in the hospital. Later, they went to this house that we are now standing then they entered the room, they met the man in his room with his wife and five children then they started operating on him, they put a rifle on his chest of which at the end of the day he died with all his children."
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAQ6PDBPCT6ALB4Y2JA79SHYR2
  • Story Text: Gunmen opened fire on four villages in central Nigeria early on Tuesday (November 26), killing 37 people in Plateau state.
    Hundreds have been killed in the past year in clashes pitting the cattle-herding and largely Muslim Fulani people against settled communities like the Berom in Plateau.
    The victims in Tuesday's violence were mainly Berom.
    Witnesses described the chaos that ensued.
    "Yesterday, we were here around this place, so we heard gunshots so I came out, I saw many people shooting and I ran back inside. I could not do anything so I went back. Around 12, I saw them because it was night, I don't know whether they wore uniform or not. As soon as I saw them I rushed back quickly, they were speaking good English," said resident Pam Yakubu.
    Violence often flares in the Middle Belt, fuelled by decades- old land disputes between semi-nomadic, cattle-keeping communities such as the Fulani and settled farming peoples like the Berom, both often armed with automatic weapons.
    Such battles, far from economic centres or oil fields in Africa's second-biggest economy and top oil producer, rarely capture the attention of its elites.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register