Gunmen kill at least 30 in Nigeria’s Plateau state attack

BAUCHI, Nigeria, March 30 (Reuters) – Gunmen attacked a university community in Nigeria’s central Plateau state on Sunday night, killing at least 30 people, residents and local officials said on Monday, the latest bloodshed in a region scarred by deadly farmer-herder conflicts.

* Violence in central Nigeria, known as the Middle Belt, isoften painted as ethno-religious between mainly Muslim Fulaniherders and Christian farmers. But many experts and politicianssay climate change and expanding agriculture stoke competitionfor land, leading to conflicts regardless of faith or ethnicity. * Markus Audu Kando, a resident and co-chair of Plateauyouth interfaith group said by phone: “As I speak with you, thefigure is now 30 … There are injured people at the hospital,but I cannot confirm their number.” * Residents said the gunmen arrived in the Gari Ya Wayecommunity of Angwan Rukuba district and shot at peopleindiscriminately. * The Plateau state government said the gunmen were unknownand imposed a 48-hour curfew in the district. The University ofJos suspended examinations due to start on Monday.  * “People were here in the evening and unfortunately, wickedterrorists came and attacked our people. We have counted scoresof people who are now dead and then so many others are also inthe hospital receiving treatment,” Paul Mancha, a resident andchairperson of the youth council in Plateau, said earlier. * U.S. President Donald Trump last November re-designatedNigeria “a country of particular concern” saying Christians werebeing targeted and authorities were failing to protect them,which the Nigerian government denies.

(Reporting by Ardo Hazzad in Bauchi and Hamza Ibrahim in Kano , Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Bernadette Baum)