Nineteen people were killed and five others injured in an attack suspected to have been launched by armed herdsmen in a village in Nigeria’s central state of Plateau, according to local police on Friday.
An investigation into the killing at Ancha village in Bassa area of the state is underway, said Plateau State police chief, Peter Ogunyanwo.
The police officer said a preliminary investigation had proved that the attack was carried out by some armed gunmen from the country’s northern Fulani tribe.
“The Fulani herdsmen wanted to avenge the killing of a young boy resident in the village who was reported missing on August 3.
“We are told that his body was later found without the head,” he told reporters in Jos, the Plateau State capital city.
Avenging the young Fulani boy’s death, a reprisal attack was launched early Friday when the herdsmen unleashed mayhem on the village three days after his body was found.
Six children were among those killed, Ogunyanwo said.