World News | Government: Gunmen in northern Nigeria kill at least 16

ABUJA, March 12 (AP) — Gunmen killed at least 16 people in an attack in northwest Nigeria, the government said Sunday.

Local government spokesman Yabo Ephraim told The Associated Press that assailants stormed the Zangon Kataf local government area in Kaduna state on Saturday and opened fire after clashes with police at a checkpoint.

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Authorities imposed a curfew on the area after the attack.

Ephraim said the attackers were ethnic Fulani, mostly nomadic herders who have been in a long-running conflict with farmers over limited access to water and land.

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A fight broke out between some villagers and a small group of Fulani before the shooting. The latter left the scene before returning in large numbers with guns and machetes, a government spokesman said.

“They were strategically stationed in certain places and started firing on the community. They even chased them into their homes. No matter where you hide, they will shoot you,” Ephraim added.

Such attacks are not uncommon in Nigeria, especially in the hardest-hit northern part of the country. Over the years, the pastoral conflict has turned into violence by various armed groups, flouting government and security measures.

On Sunday, young people in the Ungwan Wakili neighborhood where Saturday’s attack took place protested the killing and accused Nigerian soldiers of failing to stop the violence despite being in the area at the time. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)