At least 18 dead in a new episode of inter-community violence in the Nigerian state of Benue

Oct. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least 18 people have died, including a police officer, during a clash between tribes of nomads and shepherds in the Nigerian state of Benue, in the southeast of the country, and a traditional scene of inter-community clashes.

On this occasion the protagonists have been the shepherds of the Fulani ethnic group, who launched an attack on farmers in the town of Gbeji on Wednesday, in a possible retaliation after the deaths of five of their members in a recent attack by the local population.

The State Security Adviser, Paul Hemba, has confirmed to the Nigerian portal The Cable that the vast majority of those killed in the attack, which occurred around 04:00 on Wednesday, were residents of the town.

Hemba does not rule out that the death toll rises to 23 in the next few hours, as local sources previously pointed out to the portal, on condition of anonymity.

Intercommunal tensions sometimes take on ethnic and religious dimensions in Nigeria, a country roughly evenly divided between the largely Christian south and the predominantly Muslim north.