Today In Nigerian History: 17th March

 

People watch a vehicle which belonged to Shi'ite Muslim rebels burn during clashes in Aden

Suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen disguised as soldiers butchered and then burned nearly a dozen Christians, mostly women and children, in the Riyom region of Plateau State close to the site of a recent sectarian massacre…

Most of the victims of the raid on a village in the Riyom region of Plateau state were women and children, state radio reported, as locals accused the security forces of failing to act quickly enough to prevent the slaughter.

A reporter at the scene of the carnage in Byei village said that he had counted 12 bodies which bore deep machete cuts and had been partially burned. The state information commissioner put the overall toll at 13.Those wounded were now being treated at a missionary hospital in Vom, near the state capital Jos, he added.

Half a dozen homes were also been torched by the killers, said the reporter. Surviving residents could be seen crying and wailing in grief.