Armed Nigerian herdsmen guns killed 20 farmers and injured eight other people in a mosque in western central Niger state, police said.
Fighting over land use between semi-nomadic cattle herders and more settled communities claims hundreds of lives a year in the middle belt and in the north of Nigeria. Last year, government said preventing attacks was a security priority.
Bala Elkana, a spokesman for Niger state police, said the attack happened on Saturday at Epogi community, in the Mokwa area of the state.
“It was a clash between farmers and herders which was initially handled but some herders felt unsatisfied and they launched a reprisal attack on villagers praying in a mosque,” Elkana said. Three people were arrested, he said.
Nigeria’s poor transport and communications infrastructure can slow the speed at which reports of events in some rural communities are passed on.
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