At least 100 people were killed in a brutal attack by gunmen on the village of Yelewata in central Nigeria’s Benue state, Amnesty International said Saturday.
The violence unfolded from late Friday into early Saturday, with many villagers reportedly burned alive in their homes. Amnesty said dozens more were injured and several remain missing, adding that survivors lack access to adequate medical care.
“Many families were locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms,” the rights group wrote on social media platform X.
Benue state lies in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where longstanding tensions between mostly Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farmers have repeatedly erupted into violence. Clashes over land use, cattle grazing, and crop cultivation are often inflamed by ethnic and religious divisions.
Just last month, at least 42 people were killed in attacks by suspected herders in the Gwer West district of the same state.
Since 2019, more than 500 people have died in similar violence across Benue, and over 2.2 million have been displaced, according to data from SBM Intelligence.