World News | Gunmen kill 15, kidnap 5 aid workers in northern Nigeria

ABUJA, April 28 (AP) — Gunmen killed 15 villagers and kidnapped five aid workers in separate attacks in Nigeria’s restive north, authorities said Thursday.

The attackers arrived in the Apa region of Benue state and opened fire on the homes of villagers, according to David Olofu, a senior state government official. Soldiers were hit in the attack, many houses were razed and villagers fled to safety, he said.

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The incident in Benue is the latest in a string of violent attacks in which armed groups have targeted remote communities in Nigeria’s northwestern and central regions, often in defiance of government and security measures.

More than 80 people have been killed in such attacks in Benue in the past month. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, although authorities have blamed Fulani herders, a group of young herders from the Fulani tribe who have become entangled in Nigerian host communities and herders over water and land Conflicts due to restricted use.

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Meanwhile, in northeast Nigeria, Islamic extremists kidnapped five aid workers in Ngala, Borno state, where an insurgency against the government has been raging for more than a decade.

The rescuers included three staff members and two contractors from the international non-governmental organization FHI 360, all “committed to providing life-saving medical care to the people of Nigeria,” the group said on Thursday, without giving further details about the incident .

FHI 360 condemned the kidnapping of the workers and called for their “unconditional, immediate and safe return,” the NGO’s Nigerian director, Iorwakwagh Apera, said in a statement. “Our priority right now is supporting our teams and their families,” Apela said.

Boko Haram has waged a bitter war against Nigeria since 2009, and over the years the insurgency has spread to neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad. A splinter faction of the group formed in 2016, known as the Islamic State in the West African province, has become notorious for targeting security forces and aid workers. (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)