Nigeria raids may have killed 700 Fulani herders: UN source

Vigilante raids in north-central Nigeria may have killed about 700 Fulani herders in recent weeks, a UN source monitoring the situation told AFP, as armed groups accused the herders of helping jihadists.

The UN source said accounts from local residents suggested about 700 Fulani herders might have been killed in attacks in Agwara district, Niger state. Local Fulani chief Farouk Ardo put the death toll over the last two months at around 1,000.

AFP said it could not independently verify the figures. Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Sources said vigilantes from the Kambari and Bargawa ethnic groups, who are largely farmers, had attacked Fulani herding settlements, killing herders, looting livestock and destroying homes. A humanitarian worker in the area said the attacks had intensified in the past two weeks, with armed vigilantes riding motorcycles into communities and shooting and hacking people on sight.

The raids followed kidnappings blamed on the Lakurawa jihadist group, which the vigilantes accused Fulani herders of aiding, sources said. The UN source said the killings appeared intended to purge the area of Fulani herders and expressed concern over possible retaliation by herders who had fled to Yauri district in neighbouring Kebbi state.

Ardo said vigilantes moved door-to-door inside Agwara town on Wednesday, killing Fulani residents and burning homes after the alleged killing of a Kambari resident. He said that killing was itself alleged to have followed the reported burning of a Fulani settlement outside the town and the killing of 11 people. A humanitarian source confirmed Ardo's account.

Nigeria has seen repeated violence involving herders, farmers, criminal gangs and jihadist groups. Local residents told AFP that in April, local vigilantes in nearby Bussa district and neighbouring Benin, aided by Nigerian troops, raided Fulani settlements. The Nigerian military did not comment on that operation, which local sources said killed 41 herders and led to several arrests on accusations of informing for the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru group.