Gunmen kill at least 46 people in attack on rural village in Nigeria

Forty-six bodies have been found after gunmen attacked a rural village in central northern Nigeria, local government officials said, the latest in a series of deadly assaults in the region.

The attack happened on Wednesday in Umogidi in Benue state, where tit-for-tat clashes are common between nomadic herders and settled farmers competing for land and resources.

The motive for the attack was not clear but Benue has been one of the hardest hit by clashes between farmers and Fulani herders they accuse of destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.

Bala Ejeh, the local government chairman in the town of Otukpo, said the gunmen attacked on Wednesday afternoon when people were mourning three others killed a day earlier. He also said 46 bodies had been recovered so far, including that of his own son and two relatives.

Communal violence is just one of the security challenges facing president-elect Bola Tinubu, who won a February presidential ballot that was marked by delays and accusations of vote-rigging.

Security forces are also battling a 14-year-long jihadist conflict and attacks by separatists.

Intercommunal violence has spiralled into broader criminality in the north-west and centre of the country, where heavily armed bandit militias ransack villages and carry out mass abductions for ransom.