This archive report was first published on 7 August 2020.
At least 21 villagers have been killed in northern Nigeria's Kaduna state, according to police, in the latest wave of violence between ethnic Fulani herders and local farmers.
Published on August 7, 2020, the attacks occurred in the predominantly Christian district of Zangon Kataf, where motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed five remote villages, shooting residents as they fled their homes.
State police spokesman Mohammed Jalinge told AFP that the assailants launched the attacks during a heavy downpour when residents, including local vigilantes, were in bed.
Despite a round-the-clock curfew in the area, the attacks occurred, prompting the state authorities to initiate a truce, which has failed.
Community leaders, however, disputed the police's account, saying a higher total of 33 people were killed in the assaults.
“The villages were attacked by gunmen on motorcycles in which 21 people were killed and three were injured,” Jalinge said.
He added that soldiers and policemen had been deployed to enforce the curfew and prevent further attacks.
The upsurge in killings has been ongoing for several years, with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari blaming the violence on an “evil combination of politically-motivated banditry, revenge killings and mutual violence by criminal gangs acting on ethnic and religious grounds.”
