4 yıl önce

Attack on wedding venue leaves several dead in Nigeria

The attack took place in Kukum-Daji village in Nigeria's Kaura distric, targeting a wedding party at one of the community houses.

Reuters

A member of security forces stands guard outside a court in the northern city of Kaduna, Nigeria October 4, 2018.

Gunmen have killed 18 guests at a wedding in northern Nigeria's Kaduna state in the latest violence in the region.

The gunmen on motorcycles stormed Kukum-Daji village in Kaura district late on Sunday and opened fire on the guests, local officials said on Monday.

"The gunmen killed 18 people at the wedding party and injured 30 others, most of them young men," said Bege Katuka Ayuba, the administrative head of the district.

"Fifteen died on the spot while three more died at the hospital," he said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack but the area has been a hotbed of deadly violence between Muslim Fulani herders and ethnic Christian farmers.

The state police spokesman confirmed the attack without giving a toll.

"There have been reports of loss of lives in the attack but we don't have a definite casualty figure yet," said Mohammed Jalinge.

The mainly-Christian Southern Kaduna area has been wracked by a long-standing dispute between farmers and herders over grazing and water rights.

There has been an upsurge in tit-for-tat killings between the two groups in recent times, prompting the state authorities to initiate an unsuccessful truce.

SOURCE: AFP