Nigeria gunmen killed 25 in Plateau, lawmaker says

A Plateau state lawmaker said 25 people were killed after attackers armed with guns and machetes struck Bin-Per village in central Nigeria on Monday night, while survivors earlier gave a toll of at least 24.

Mathew Joseph, a resident of Bin-Per in Mangu local government area, told AFP that people were sleeping when they heard screaming and saw armed men approaching. He said he escaped before the attackers reached his house and that 24 people were killed.

Resident Muftwan Yamput gave the same toll and said neighbours were among those slain. A local Red Cross field officer, Biplang Moses, confirmed the incident but did not specify a toll.

Matthew Kwarpo, a representative in the Plateau state assembly, later put the toll at 25. Police did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

Plateau has seen recurring communal violence involving Muslim ethnic Fulani herders and settled farmers, many of them Christian, over land and resources. The killings in Bin-Per came after two herders were killed in the area last week, followed by a suspected reprisal in nearby Maitimbe in which multiple houses were burned down.

Kwarpo called on authorities to deploy measures to prevent or reduce attacks, especially in Mangu local government area.