Six policemen killed in Nigeria

SIX police officers were killed in northeastern Nigeria yesterday in an attack blamed on cattle herders, following deadly clashes with farmers over land.

“Six policemen were killed in an ambush by suspected Fulani herdsmen,” Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar said.

“The police were on their way to Dowaya village, outside Numan [district], to disarm Fulani herders, who witnesses said were carrying firearms.”

No arrests had been made in connection with the ambush, which happened on Friday, with the state on heightened alert because of rising tensions between herders and farmers.

On November 20, at least 30 people were killed when farmers from the Christian Bachama ethnic group stormed four settlements of the Muslim Fulani herders in Numan district.

Herder representatives gave a higher death toll – and said women and children were among those killed as they tried to flee.

Herder Jaura Hammayidi said he did not know who was responsible for the ambush, but claimed it followed an attack by police on the community.

“After the attack on four villages, our people were left with no option but to relocate to other areas,” he said.

“Duwaya village was one of the villages our people moved to and they began the 40-day mourning of the slain women and children.

“Surprisingly, the police came and shot dead two people.”

The central states of Nigeria have been riven for decades with ethnic, sectarian and religious violence, linked to tensions between farmers and herders over land and water.

But groups tracking the conflict say the unrest is spreading and non-Fulani communities have set up civilian militias because of the absence of effective law enforcement.

“This pattern is repeating itself across the country on both sides of the River Niger,” an SBM Intelligence spokesman said.

“If nothing is done urgently, it is going to get worse.”

The International Crisis Group (ICG) – a Brussels-based think tank – said in September about 2 500 people had been killed and tens of thousands had to flee from their homes last year.

Such attacks were becoming as potentially dangerous as the insurgency by the Boko Haram Sunni military group in the northeast of the country, the ICG said.