48 Killed in Fresh Communal Violence in Nigeria

At least 48 people were killed in fresh intercommunal violence in central Nigeria after armed attackers from rival farming and herding communities carried out retaliatory assaults in Niger State, according to a security report seen by AFP on Thursday.

The violence erupted on Wednesday in the town of Tegina, where armed members of a herder militia allegedly attacked farmers from the Kamuku ethnic group with machetes, killing at least 42 people.

The security report, prepared for the United Nations, said the attack triggered reprisals in which six Fulani herders working on a plantation were killed.

Local community leader Abdullahi Alhassan told AFP that armed Fulani herders stormed the area, attacking residents with machetes and setting homes on fire, leaving some victims trapped inside.

He said the assault was in retaliation for the killing last month of a respected Fulani community leader, Muhammad Shehu, whose death the herders blamed on vigilantes from the Kamuku farming community.

According to the UN security report, Shehu was killed during a dispute over the distribution of money donated by a politician, an incident that deepened tensions between the two communities and sparked a cycle of revenge attacks.

Following Wednesday's massacre, Kamuku farmers reportedly launched retaliatory attacks on three nearby herding settlements around Tegina, burning houses and killing at least two herders.

Niger State has been grappling with persistent insecurity driven by heavily armed criminal gangs, locally known as bandits, who engage in kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling and deadly attacks on rural communities.

The violence has also disrupted farming activities during the peak rainy season, with many farmers unable to cultivate their land because of attacks by bandits and jihadist groups, who often demand illegal levies in exchange for access to farmland.

International aid agencies have warned that the growing displacement of farming communities poses a serious threat to Nigeria's food security.

In its latest assessment released on Thursday, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that food insecurity in northern Nigeria is deteriorating faster than previously expected.

According to the agency, more than 17 million people across northern Nigeria are experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger.

Analysts say longstanding disputes over land and water resources between farmers and herders have intensified in recent years due to rapid population growth, climate change and illegal mining activities, which also provide funding for armed groups operating in parts of the country.