Survivors mourn deadly Nigeria attack as toll tops 100
STORY: Charred bodies, destroyed homes and smoking grain…
This is what Yelwata, a village in Nigeria's central Benue state, looks like after a brutal attack by unidentified gunmen over the weekend.
At least 100 people were killed, according to Amnesty International.
37 year-old farmer Fidelis Adidi lost a wife and four children in the attack.
He says his second wife and one of his children were able to escape after being left for dead.
"I was told that my wife tried escaping with one of her children, but she was shot in front of the door which is where she fell. They butchered her, so when I came in the morning I only identified her from a piece of clothing as she was completely burnt. I picked her and the child that was with her and went to bury them. I couldn't find the other three children, because so many children were burnt beyond recognition and I could not differentiate mine."
While Adidi now plans to relocate his remaining family, survivor Talatu Agauta has come back to pick up the pieces.
"I woke up today wondering about my lost goods. I haven't been able to eat and I'm pregnant. I'm wondering how we will be able to cope and eat in the town where we all ran to. So I came back. Even if it's death I don't mind. That's why I came back."
Benue is in Nigeria's Middle Belt, a region where the majority Muslim North meets the largely Christian South.
The region faces competition over land use, with conflicts between herders, who seek grazing land for their cattle, and farmers, who need arable land for cultivation.
These tensions are often worsened by overlapping ethnic and religious divisions.
Last month at least 42 people were shot dead by suspected herders in Benue state.
According to research firm SBM Intelligence, clashes have claimed more than 500 lives in the region and forced 2.2 million to leave their homes since 2019.
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