Around 100 Killed in Brutal Overnight Attack on Nigerian Town Amnesty Reports

YELWATA, NIGERIA – A deadly overnight assault on the town of Yelwata in Nigeria’s Benue state has left around 100 people dead, according to Amnesty International, marking one of the deadliest episodes of violence in the country’s Middle Belt region in recent years.

The attack began Friday night, with gunmen setting fire to homes and targeting residents as they slept. Among the victims were women and children, including the family of Fidelis Adidi, a local farmer who returned the next morning to find the charred remains of his wife and four children.

My body is weak and my heart keeps racing, said Adidi, 37, as he stood outside the scorched room in Yelwata’s market area. I lost five family members.

Several other victims were burned beyond recognition inside market stalls, where residents had been taking shelter from rising ethnic and land-related clashes.

Violence Fuels Displacement and Fear

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) estimates that over 3,000 people have been displaced by the attack, many now seeking refuge in the Benue state capital, Makurdi.

Talatu Agauta a pregnant woman and rice trader, fled the violence but later returned to find her 40 bags of rice reduced to ash. Despite the loss, she is determined to stay.

I came back — and even if I die here, I don’t mind, she said defiantly.

Land Conflicts and Religious Tensions Behind the Bloodshed

The Middle Belt has long been plagued by land disputes between Christian farming communities and Muslim nomadic herders, exacerbated by climate pressures and weak state security.

President Bola Tinubu, calling the recent surge in attacks depressing is scheduled to visit Benue state on Wednesday — his first visit to the conflict-hit region since taking office two years ago.

Despite increased security deployments, authorities have struggled to control the cycle of retaliatory violence, which continues to tear through vulnerable rural communities.