Africa

Violence in the Nigerian state of Kaduna has left almost 650 dead since the beginning of the year

Violence in the Nigerian state of Kaduna has left almost 650 dead since the beginning of the year

July 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

A total of 645 people have died in the Nigerian state of Kaduna, one of the most violent in the country, between January and June 2022, either due to attacks by jihadist groups, the so-called armed “bandits” or inter-community clashes.

The State Internal Security and Internal Affairs Commissioner, Samuel Aruwan, has specified that approximately at least a third of the deceased (234) were killed in southern Kaduna.

“In the first six months of 2022, 645 people lost their lives in such circumstances throughout the state; 234 of these occurred in the southern Kaduna area,” Aruwan explained during the presentation of the report, collected by the Premium Times.

“All this presages the almost total collapse of the local economy in the frontline areas, which is mainly based on agriculture and livestock”, he lamented,

“Residents have been robbed of their main means of livelihood. Vibrant weekly markets have been disrupted,” he added.

In 2021, violence claimed the lives of 1,192 people across the state, including 406 in southern Kaduna.

The Kaduna “bandits” have become a scourge for the country’s authorities, who have even declared these organizations as terrorist groups to facilitate security operations.

This has not prevented them from continuing to act with almost total impunity in attacks that follow the same pattern: they break into the state’s towns on motorcycles, open fire indiscriminately against their residents, kidnap some of the survivors and flee before authorities can react.

A report, presented in May by the state governor, Nasir el Rufai, also detailed that 1,389 people were kidnapped during the first three months of the year, at least a dozen women were raped, including six minors, and 3,251 animals. they ended up in the hands of bandits, most of them in Kaduna Central.

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