A state-backed Nigerian militia, operating alongside the military, killed scores of ethnic Fulani herders in a raid, local sources have told AFP.
The herders were killed in an operation that also involved vigilantes from Benin, just across the border from Niger state, after the herders were accused of being informants for the jihadist group Ansaru, the sources said.
The Nigerian vigilantes from Bussa district raided herding Fulani settlements around Kabe, in neighbouring Borgu, in a massacre that also saw sweeping mass arrests, the sources said.
On Thursday, security personnel went door-to-door in Fulani herding settlements, arresting young men suspected of being informants for the al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru group, shooting those who resisted, the sources said.
“Security personnel killed 41 suspected Ansaru informants in the raids in which many others were arrested,” said Ahmad Ali, a community leader from the nearby village of Konkoso.
“It was a joint operation between community vigilantes and those from neighbouring Benin, with the help of Nigerian soldiers,” Ali added.
A Nigerian military spokesman declined to comment and said he would seek more details of the alleged incident.
It was unclear if the Beninese military was aware of or involved in the operation. A Beninese military spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Stigmatised as sympathisers
Niger is one of several states in central and northwestern Nigeria that have for years been terrorised by cattle rustling and kidnapping-for-ransom gangs locally known as “bandits”, which raid communities, kill residents and loot homes.
In recent years jihadist groups fighting a 17-year insurgency in the northeast have also established a foothold in Niger state, a gold-rich agricultural hub.
Occasional cooperation between bandits and jihadists has drawn the concern of security analysts.
The recruitment of Fulanis by jihadist groups in the neighbouring Sahel has sparked deadly reprisal attacks on Fulani civilians in those countries by militaries and militias.
Researchers have warned that such reprisals can backfire by pushing some Fulanis to join jihadist groups for their own safety.
In Nigeria, the presence of Fulanis in “bandit” gangs has sometimes seen authorities close down markets to the cattle trade, which has an outsize effect on Fulanis, many of whom are herders.
Fulanis are also often victims of armed groups themselves.
Community tensions
A humanitarian source providing aid to communities displaced by violence in the area put the toll slightly lower, at 38, blaming “vigilantes from Nigeria and Benin”.
A resident of Kabe named Abubakar, who declined to give his last name, said the operation was a “pre-emptive raid” following threats by the Fulani herders to disrupt farming activities in the area, after the recent killing of their two kinsmen accused of being Ansaru informants in the nearby community of Sabalunna.
In reprisals for the killing of those two individuals, Ansaru attacked and burnt down Sabalunna, warning “they would never condone the killing of their people”, said Abubakar, who confirmed the toll of 41.
“The Fulani herders openly threatened to disrupt farming this rainy season as they would be attacking farmers while working on their farms in the bush,” he said.
“This prompted the pre-emptive raid.”
The herding settlements have been deserted, with the herders fleeing the area with their cattle, the sources said.
AFP
