Death toll from an attack by gunmen in north-central Nigeria reaches 150, survivors say

The death toll from an attack by gunmen over the week-end in north-central Nigeria has climbed to 150, survivors said Monday (June 16, 2025) as the villagers were still digging through burned homes, counting their dead and looking for dozens of people still missing.Assailants stormed Benue state's Yelewata community late on Friday (June 13, 2025) night, opening fire on villagers who were asleep and setting their homes ablaze, survivors and the local farmers union said. Many of those killed were sheltering in a local market after fleeing violence in other parts of the State.

- GNS News Agency, june 25

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, but such attacks are common in Nigeria's northern region where local herders and farmers often clash over limited access to land and water. The prolonged conflict has become deadlier in recent years, with authorities and analysts warning that more herdsmen are taking up arms. The farmers accuse the herders, mostly of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on their farms and destroying their produce. The herders insist that the lands are grazing routes that were first backed by law in 1965, five years after the country gained its independence.