Gunmen kill at least 24 in central Nigeria: survivors

Attackers wielding guns and machetes killed at least two dozen people in central Nigeria's Plateau state, survivors told AFP on Tuesday, the latest flare-up in a state plagued by recurring communal violence.

Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers in Plateau, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources.

"We were sleeping, we heard some noises, some people in our neighbourhood were screaming," Mathew Joseph, of Bin-Per village, in Mangu local government area, told AFP of the Monday night attack.

"I looked through the window and saw some armed men approaching our house. Before they arrived we managed to escape," he said.

He said that 24 people had been killed, the same toll given by resident Muftwan Yamput, who said his neighbours were slain.

"We survived by the whisker, but my neighbours were attacked, two people killed in their house," he told AFP.

Local Red Cross field officer Biplang Moses confirmed the incident without specifying a toll.

Matthew Kwarpo, a representative in the Plateau state assembly, later put the toll at 25.

Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Land used by farmers and herders in central Nigeria's Middle Belt region is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space.

Land grabbing over mineral and mining resources, political and economic tensions between locals and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in recent decades.

Cycles of violence

When violence flares, weak policing can mean reprisal attacks follow which often occur across communal lines.

The killings in Bin-Per come after two herders in the area were killed last week.

Those killings were followed by a suspected reprisal on the nearby village of Maitimbe in which multiple houses were burned down.

The violence in the state has been characterised by some as evidence of "persecution" against Christians -- accusations rejected by the Nigerian government and independent researchers.

Plateau has also seen urban riots across religious lines that have killed hundreds in recent years.

Kwarpo called on authorities to "deploy proactive measures in preventing or mitigating unnecessary attacks before they occur", especially in the Mangu local government area.

"The incident underscores the urgent need for concerted efforts to address the underlying grievances and prevent further escalation of violence in the affected communities," he said