Army blamed for Nigerian massacre
Armed men dressed in military uniforms massacred more than 200 people in central Nigeria after rebels killed 19 soldiers in the region, according to reports today.
Survivors said the men opened fire on people in four villages close to where the soldiers’ bodies were found earlier this month.
A Nigerian army spokesman dismissed claims that soldiers were involved in any massacre on the border between Benue and Taraba states.
But witnesses said the attacks, which began on Monday, were carried out by soldiers who rounded up local men and then executed them.
Local journalists who visited the area after the massacre described seeing scores of bodies in one town where the market had also been torched.
The area has been hit by a vicious ethnic conflict which reached new levels earlier this month when the 19 soldiers were abducted by ethnic Tiv rebels and hacked to death.
The soldiers were buried with full military honours on Monday.
Thousands of villagers have been left homeless by the clashes between different ethnic groups in the area.
