5 killed in gunmen attack in central Nigeria

Some 300 gunmen stormed a mostly Christian village in central Nigeria, killing five people and burning scores of homes, police said. The early morning attack targeted the village of Kuka in Plateau state, which roughly falls on the dividing line between Nigeria’s mainly Christian south and predominately Muslim north. Five people were killed and many houses were burnt, said Plateau’s police spokeswoman Felicia Anslem. About 300 attackers invaded the community, she added. The decade-long mostly sectarian conflict in Plateau has left thousands dead. Herdsmen from the Fulani-Hausa ethnic group, which is mostly Muslim, have been blamed for scores of attacks on the primarily Christian Berom community. The Berom are considered the state’s indigenous people, which legally gives them enhanced rights, including better access to land, education and public offices. Fulani leaders have for years claimed that the violence can only be tempered if state leaders, who are almost entirely Berom, agree to major political reforms. It was not clear who carried out the latest attack. While Kuka is a mostly Christian village, some of the victims were said to have been Fulanis.