Gunmen killed five in Plateau

Gunmen killed at least five people in a mainly-Christian village in Nigeria’s restive Plateau state, police said on Thursday after the latest violence between nomadic herdsmen and farmers.

“We received a report that unknown gunmen invaded Kadunung village around 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) and in the process about five people were killed and several houses burnt,” state police spokesman Emmanuel Abuh said.

The media put the death toll higher, saying 18 people were killed while up to 150 houses were razed.

Abuh said the motive for the attack on the mainly-Christian and farming village was unknown but an investigation had been launched.

The place is now calm as our personnel have deployed to maintain law and order. No arrest has been made,” he added.

Plateau state falls on the dividing line between Nigeria’s mainly Christian south and mostly Muslim north and has witnessed sporadic ethnic and religious tensions for decades.