Fulani militants kill 21 overnight in Nigeria

 Despite warnings of an attack earlier in the week and the presence of security guards, 21 villagers were killed by suspected radical Fulani militants in north-central Nigeria on Thursday night.

Witnesses say gunmen slipped into the Heipang community village and opened fire between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. Most of the victims were internally displaced persons (IDP) who had fled earlier violence. Heipang is in the Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area in Plateau State.

“This is the third armed attack on the community which has enjoyed relative peace for years,” said one community leader.

The Heipang community has lost more than 100 villagers in attacks over the past two decades, with no arrests. Villagers in Heipang and Mangu blame radicalized Fulani militants and herders for causing the attacks on the mostly Christian farming communities.

They say the government is complicit and unable to prevent the attacks – a common thread in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region that has been rocked by violence with tens of thousands of Christians killed over the past 20 years.

Plateau State Gov. Caleb Mutfwang expressed his condolences and strongly condemned the attack.

Another al-Shabaab attack in Kenya

 Al-Shabaab militants ambushed vehicles, killed one person, and injured 10 others in Lamu, Kenya, on August 1.  

“Today at approximately 7:40 a.m., suspected terrorists attacked travelers along the Lamu-Witu-Garsen highways where one person was killed and 10 injured, while a yet-to-be-determined number are missing,” said the Kenyan Minister for Interior and National Administration.  

Security reports that approximately 60 members of the Somali-based al-Qaida-allied terrorist group stopped vehicles and motorcycles in the remote area, fully armed, ready to carry out a massive attack.

One of the security personnel who responded to the attack told ICC, “We were notified by the first survivors that arrived on a vehicle damaged in the rear by bullets. We responded rapidly, and a gun battle ensued. We managed to scatter the large groups of terrorists into the nearby Boni Forest. We thank God that He used the survivors to report to us. It would have been one of the deadliest al-Shabaab attacks in recent years.”  

One of the vehicles sprayed with bullets belonged to a local member of the County Assembly, who was traveling with his wife and children. They were evaluated and taken to the hospital, where his wife succumbed to bullet wounds as they were receiving treatment. 

Today’s attack comes barely three weeks after one person was killed and seven houses set on fire by terrorists that attacked internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter at a camp in Juhudi due to the ongoing security threat in Lamu.

In a separate incident, the Al-Shabaab militia earlier today detonated an improvised explosive device and fired assault weapons targeting a passenger bus in Mandera, injuring one civilian.  

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