ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria's president said that at least 40 people were killed when Muslim gunmen, believed to be herders, attacked a Christian farming community in the north-central part of the country, the latest in an increasing wave of violence in the West African country.
President Bola Tinubu also said he has ordered an investigation over the late Sunday night attack on the Zike community, extending his condolences to the victims and their families.
''I have instructed security agencies to thoroughly investigate this crisis and identify those responsible for orchestrating these violent acts,'' Tinubu said in a statement late on Monday.
Amnesty International said the victims, who included children and the elderly, were taken by surprise and could not flee from the gunmen.
Such attacks have become common in this part of Africa's most populous country, where gunmen — typically herders from Fulani, a Muslim tribe — exploit security lapses to launch deadly raids on farmers in a fight over land resources.
According to Andy Yakubu, a local resident, gunmen in Sunday night's attack also destroyed and looted homes in the Zike community, located in the Bassa area of Plateau state,
Yakubu said he saw bodies after the attack and that the number of dead could exceed 50. No one has been arrested so far, he added.
The Fulani have been accused of carrying out mass killings across the northwest and central regions, where the decades-long conflict over access to land and water has further worsened the divisions between farmers and herders, Christians and Muslims.
