Nigeria militias kill herders en masse, alleging jihadist ties: sources

Kano – Vigilante groups in north-central Nigeria have launched raids against ethnic Fulani herders in recent weeks, possibly killing hundreds of people, accusing them of complicity in jihadist violence, sources told AFP Monday.

Vigilantes from the Kambari and Bargawa ethnic groups — who are largely farmers — have been sacking Fulani herding settlements in Niger state’s Agwara district, killing herders, looting their livestock and destroying their homes, the sources said.

Criminal “bandit” gangs in Nigeria, and jihadist groups in west Africa more broadly, have at times drawn heavy Fulani membership, leading to reprisal attacks on members of the ethnic group at-large.

In Nigeria especially, as population growth and climate change have squeezed farmland and grazing routes, herders and farmers have clashed over land, at times killing hundreds across ethnic lines.

The raids in Niger state followed a spate of kidnappings blamed on jihadists from the Lakurawa group, which the vigilantes accused herders of aiding, said the sources.

“From the accounts we are getting from the local population, about 700 Fulani herders might have been killed in the attacks,” a UN source monitoring the situation told AFP.

“It is evident the killings are meant to purge the area of Fulani herders,” said the source, expressing worry over possible retaliation by the herders, who have fled to Yauri district in neighbouring Kebbi state.

AFP could not independently verify the figures.

The police did not respond to a request for comment.

Communities in Agwara district have been under repeated attacks by jihadists in recent months.

 Shooting ‘anyone on sight’

Armed vigilantes have intensified attacks on herding settlements in the district in the past two weeks, “riding into communities on motorcycles, shooting and hacking anyone on sight”, a humanitarian worker in the area said.

“The vigilantes said the Fulani are part of Lakurawa terrorising the population,” said the humanitarian source.

Videos seen by AFP showed gruesome images, including of a victim with severe facial wounds and another with a deep gash from a machete being treated in hospital.

On Wednesday, vigilantes moved door-to-door inside Agwara town, killing and burning the homes of Fulani residents, the local Fulani chief said.

The attack was in response to the alleged killing of a Kambari resident — itself an alleged revenge assault, following the reported burning of a Fulani settlement outside the town and killing of 11 people, said chief Farouk Ardo.

His account was confirmed by the humanitarian source.

Ardo put the death toll over the last two months at “around 1,000”.

In April, local vigilantes in nearby Bussa district and the neighbouring nation of Benin — aided by Nigerian troops — raided Fulani settlements, local residents told AFP.

The Nigerian military did not comment on the operation, which local sources said killed 41 herders and saw the arrest of several others, on charges of being informants for the Al-Qaeda linked Ansaru jihadist group.