Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AT LEAST 100 people have been killed in the religiously divided centre of Nigeria this weekend, according to local officials, after tensions between Muslim-dominated herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers again turned deadly.
About 40 assailants armed with guns and machetes stormed the villages of Angwan Gata, Chenshyi and Angwan Sankwai, attacking locals in their sleep and torching their homes, Yakubu Bitiyong, a lawmaker at the Kaduna state parliament told AFP.
“We have at least 100 dead bodies from the three villages attacked by the gunmen” overnight Friday-Saturday, he said, adding that scores of residents were also injured.
Some of the victims “were shot and burnt in their homes while others were hacked with machetes,” Bitiyong said.
Displaced
According to a local government official who asked not to be named, around 2,000 people displaced by the attacks were now sheltering in a primary school in Gwandong village.
Kaduna state police spokesman Aminu Lawan confirmed the attacks but refused to give a casualty toll or say who was behind the violence.
Local residents, mostly Christians, blamed the bloodshed on Muslim Fulani herdsmen, who have been accused of similar raids in the past.
Chenshyi village was the worst affected with at least 50 people killed, said Adamu Marshall, a spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union, a regional political and cultural body.
“Many people are still in the bush, afraid to return to their burnt homes,” he told AFP, confirming a total toll of at least 100 dead.
“The attackers looted food and set fire to the barns during the attacks,” he added.
Governor
Kaduna state governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero was to cut short a visit to the United States in response to the violence, his spokesman said.
Fulani leaders have for years complained about the loss of grazing land which is crucial to their livelihood, with resentment between the herdsmen and their agrarian neighbours rising over the past decade.
Most of the Fulani-linked violence has been concentrated in the religiously divided centre of the country, where rivalries between the herdsmen and farmers have helped fuel the unrest.
Nigeria is almost evenly split between the Muslim majority north and largely Christian south. Religion and ethnicity underpin daily life.
Kaduna and the neighbouring state of Plateau make up Nigeria’s so-called middle belt where the two religions often clash.
Flashpoint
The weekend attacks in the flashpoint region recall the sectarian-fuelled violence following the last presidential elections in 2011, which saw southern Christian Goodluck Jonathan defeat northern Muslim candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari’s supporters took to the streets, claiming the vote was rigged. Their protest became violent and Human Rights Watch estimated that more than 500 people were killed, most of them Muslims, in southern Kaduna.
The run-up to the next presidential vote in February 2015 has again been dominated by a row between northern Muslims and Christians, this time in Jonathan’s own ruling party, where northerners claim a candidate from their regions should run.
Jonathan has yet to officially declare that he will stand for re-election but his apparent refusal to step aside has prompted a series of defections of governors, lawmakers and senators to the opposition.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Sick of religion(s) and all the bullshit that goes with them.
But mainly Islam
Almost exclusively Islam.
Alan, never hear of the crusades?
Ever heard of the 21st century.
I defy any of you to give me proof that Islamic extremists have killed more people than the crusades? Bashing Islam and Islam alone is ridiculous. Now the amount of love lost because if any religion through out history would be a staggering figure, I would imagine.
The crusades ended 800 years ago.
Then we evolved into people who can respect the beliefs of others , islam is very much a “with us or against us” thing.
So you are speaking for circa 2.2 billion people with that with or against us comment? There are extreme elements in many religions and religious sects. To brand a whole religion as anything, as you did, is preposterous. Unless you have met, interviewed and have vast intelligence on the while Muslim populous, then I stand corrected.
Put the pompoms away Massimo, it never ceases to amaze me there are so many deluded apologists like yourself out there wiling to defend this Stone Age ideology.
I apologise for no one. I just think it’s a bit rich that you can generalise over 2 billion peoples beliefs and attitudes toward extremism. Whatever floats your boat dude.
George bush is a fairly hardcore Christian and he got a pretty high body count. It’s just that warplanes killing people is less grisly then hacking people to death. And lets not forget the Balkans, the Muslims got a rough time there too. It’s just the Muslim extremists are currently the most prolific. That’s how I see it anyway.
Barbarians. These Fulani herdsmen seem to be cut from the and cloth as Boko Haram.
This is what exactly would happen in Syria if the rebels win the war. Christans would have to flee the Country
Some of the Christian militias in Nigeria and CAR are just as bad as Islamist variations.
The balance of support must fall toward those opposed to death and tribal vengeance. It’s not a religious affiliation, it’s a common perspective of civility and decency. Sadly, barbarism like this is commonplace in conflict areas of the world. Islam is frequently the catalyst.
“Dear God please protect me from your followers”
My religion is better than you religion so I’m gonna kill you.
Your interpretation of a religious text is slightly different my interpretation , so I’m gonna kill you.
@Dario
Where gang of men armed with machetes,entering villages and hacking people into little pieces in Ireland a few years ago?
Yer wasting yer time trying to get your point across to Dario and his ilk Shamen, I’m surprised Petr Tosserov isn’t out cheerleading for the jihadists as usual.
@Dario, Balbriggan, Waterford, Ennis, Ballinasloe etc. etc.
Absolutely atrocious. To do such things in the name of religion. Barbaric fanatical morons
Whear is the proof it was in the name of religion
I’d imagine it was to do with land or livestock, that’s my guess anyway.
Islam – The religion of Peace ! Oh, and beheadings, women as 3rd class citizens being stoned to death, 500 lashes for the slightest indiscretion, kleptocracies, Fatwas, etc….
This has nothing at all to do with religions .a few weeks back christians mutilated muslims and ate body parts , not much media coverage : these evil acts do not represent Islam or all muslims , no more than the evil acts carried out by non muslims dosent represent all non muslims . Media really love highlighting things when a muslim is involved . . These crimes are not carried out because of religion they are carried out by power , greed , money . .
They taste like pork I believe.
Possibly you have a point. However can you name even a couple of Christian countries which have as strict as laws as Sharia and where just being born to another religion even if you don’t practise it, can result in you being potentially jailed ! Also, which Christian countries promote female genital mutilation or young pre-teenage girls being married off to old men !
Such a shame.
This reads more like a Nigerian “Heavens Gate” than a simply being a sectarian tragedy. Sounds like somebody needs to respect land ownership – but it’s far from clear who that should be.
It’s sickening that this still happens and no one helps it highlights the evil in certain parts of the world to hack innocent people to death who have nothing anyway these are evil people.
it’s heart breaking when we can’t stop this.
Religion brings nothing but misery to people.
I am amazed that people will down on ( Fri,Sat or Sunday and then go out and butcher other people in the name of God , an entity that more likely does not exist at all.
have your say