Dakar (Senegal), June 16 (LaPresse/AP) – The death toll has risen to 150 in Nigeria following a late-night armed attack on Friday in Benue State, in the country's central-north region. Armed men stormed the Yelewata community, opened fire on sleeping residents, and set their homes on fire, according to survivors. Villagers are still digging through the charred remains of homes, counting the dead, and searching for dozens still missing.
Many of the victims had taken refuge in a local market after fleeing violence in other parts of the state. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but such attacks are common in northern Nigeria, where herders and local farmers often clash over limited access to land and water. The long-running conflict has become increasingly deadly in recent years, with authorities and analysts warning that more herders are taking up arms.
Farmers accuse herders, mostly of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on farmlands and destroying crops. Herders insist those lands are grazing routes protected under a 1965 law passed five years after the country’s independence. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, whose administration has struggled to end the country’s security crises, called the Benue attack "senseless bloodshed." His office announced that he will visit the affected community on Wednesday.
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