At least eleven people have been killed and six others injured in an overnight attack on a community in a district of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State in central Nigeria.
The attackers, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, stormed armed at around 11.00 a.m. (local time) on Tuesday night at Maikatako community and started shooting indiscriminately at its members, the ‘Daily Post’ newspaper has reported.
At least nine of the victims were burned beyond recognition in a compound of houses that was razed to the ground by the attackers, while the other victims were found near bushes.
According to a member of the affected community, violence in the area broke out after the weekly Monday market when a child was shot in Hilltop, a community one kilometer from Maikatako, as reported by Channels Television.
Conflicts over fertile land are a common cause of violence in Nigeria. The Fulani, nomadic herders, have had to leave the north of the country due to the pressing drought and have invaded traditional farming areas in the center and south of the country, according to DPA.
