Nigerian media identified the affected areas as two villages in Heipang, Plateau, with a large population of internally displaced civilians. Plateau is part of Nigeria’s “Middle Belt” region that divides that Muslim-majority north from the Christian-majority south and has experienced years of radical jihadist attacks meant to eradicate the Christian population. The attackers are largely young men belonging to the majority-Muslim Fulani ethnic group; locals say they arrive on motorcycles or on horseback and steal locals’ homes and farmland by attacking with gunfire, machetes, and other weapons. READ MORE
