Unsolved case · 2022
The short answer
On 10 April 2022, a bandit gang attacked nine villages in Plateau State, Nigeria, killing dozens and kidnapping about 70 people in a single afternoon.
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Suggest coverage for 2022 Plateau State massacresOn the afternoon of 10 April 2022, a gang of bandits, believed to be Fulani herdsmen, attacked nine villages in the Kanam and Wase local government areas of Plateau State, Nigeria. The attackers killed more than 150 people across the series of attacks and kidnapped about 70 others. Gunmen also torched and looted houses during the rampage. Victims were buried in mass graves in Kanam.
The attack occurred amid a broader context of instability in Nigeria, which has been affected by several low-intensity conflicts, including the Boko Haram insurgency that began in 2009 and the Nigerian bandit conflict that began in 2011. Bandit attacks had increased in frequency in the early 2020s. In the week preceding the Plateau State attacks, bandits carried out a major assault on a military base in Kaduna State that killed 15 soldiers, and a separate attack on a harvest festival killed 17 people. A few weeks earlier, an attack on a train bound for Kaduna killed upwards of 60 passengers. On the same day as the Plateau State massacres, bandits killed 15 people in an unrelated incident in a village in Chikun, Kaduna State; among the dead was local community leader Isiaku Madaki, who had been installed in his position less than a day before.
Casualty figures for the Plateau State attacks varied significantly across reporting sources. Initial reports and authorities put the death toll at at least 50. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the toll was more than 100, with some estimates placing it as high as 130. On 11 April, Voice of America reported at least 70 people had been killed. Vanguard reported at least 78 people killed in Kanam and another 15 in Chikun during the attacks.
In response, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari vowed there would be "no mercy" for the perpetrators of the attacks. However, leaders of the affected local communities called for his resignation, citing his administration's failure to maintain order and security in the region.
No specific individual is documented as having been charged or convicted in connection with these attacks.
Bandit gang attacks nine villages in Kanam and Wase local government areas of Plateau State, Nigeria, killing dozens and kidnapping about 70 people.
Separate, unrelated bandit attack kills 15 people in a village in Chikun, Kaduna State, including recently installed community leader Isiaku Madaki.
Voice of America reports at least 70 people killed in the Plateau State attacks; witnesses tell Associated Press the toll exceeds 100.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Local community leader killed in an unrelated bandit attack in Chikun, Kaduna State on the same day as the Plateau State massacres, less than a day after being installed in his role.[3]
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UNSOLVEDListenMangu Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria · 2020s
Over 100 people, many women and children, were killed when Fulani herder gunmen attacked multiple villages in Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria, on 15–16 May 2023.
UNSOLVEDListenPlateau State, Nigeria · 2020s
A series of armed attacks struck at least 17 rural communities in Plateau State, Nigeria, between 23 and 25 December 2023, killing at least 200 people and wounding more than 500. No group claimed responsibility, though the attacks are believed to have been carried out by Fulani militias.
ONGOINGListenNigeria · 2000s
Kidnapping has become a widespread and organized criminal enterprise in Nigeria since the early 2000s, spanning political abductions in the Niger Delta, mass school kidnappings by Boko Haram, and commercial kidnapping-for-ransom operations affecting all 36 states.
Credit: YnhockeyCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenNir Oz kibbutz, southern Israel · 2023
On 7 October 2023, Hamas-led militants and civilian looters from Gaza invaded the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel, killing 47 people and abducting 76 during a multi-hour assault that Israeli military reinforcements did not reach until after the attackers had withdrawn.
ONGOINGListenGaza envelope / southern Israel · 2023
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and allied Palestinian militant groups launched a coordinated rocket barrage and cross-border assault from Gaza into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages into Gaza.
Credit: Shayshal2CC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenNahal Oz, Israel · 2023
On 7 October 2023, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants attacked the Nahal Oz military base and adjacent kibbutz near the Gaza border, killing more than 60 Israeli soldiers and 15 civilians and taking soldiers and civilians hostage into Gaza.
