| Renewed overnight attacks on villages in central Nigeria on Friday killed 12 people including seven young siblings in an area beset by sectarian violence, local government officials said. “Nine people died in the (first) attack, eight are of the same family, a father and seven of his children. A neighbour was also affected in the attack,” Pam Ayuba, spokesmam to the Plateau state governor told AFP. Five of those killed are under 10 years of age, he said. “They came around 1:20 am (0020 GMT), all dressed in black, and they started shooting at the house,” a witness, Ezekiel Mwanta said. A community leader, Emmanuel Loman, told reporters that it was later discovered that a second attack had been staged at a nearby village, killing three people. The attacks occurred in Barkin Ladi, an area dominated by a mainly Christian ethnic group on the outskirts of Jos city. The office of the United Nation rights chief on Friday expressed concern at the resurgence of violence in central Nigeria, which it said had reportedly killed up to 70 people in separate attacks since the beginning of August. “We are concerned about the renewed violence which has flared up in Nigeria’s ‘Middle Belt’ in recent weeks causing death, injury and destruction,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva. Jos has been hit by waves of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups that have left hundreds dead in recent years. The area lies between the predominantly Christian south and mainly Muslim north of Africa’s most populous nation. Ayuba said the renewed attacks appeared to be linked to long-running rivalries over land. Christian ethnic groups are usually into farming of staple food crops while Muslim ethnic groups, especially the Fulani, are more nomadic cattle rearers. Mwanta said the attackers came in two groups. “While one group was killing, the other rustled 29 cattle.” |
Sep102011