People gather as policemen arrive at the scene of an attack, the morning after gunmen killed multiple people in an overnight attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North, Plateau State, Nigeria March 30, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer Purchase Licensing Rights
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By 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, is often painted as ethno-religious between mainly Muslim Fulani herders and Christian farmers. But many experts and politicians say climate change and expanding agriculture stoke competition for land, leading to conflicts regardless of faith or ethnicity.
Markus Audu Kando, a resident and co-chair of Plateau youth interfaith group said by phone: “As I speak with you, the figure 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 Waye community of Angwan Rukuba district and shot at people indiscriminately.
The Plateau state government said the gunmen were unknown and imposed a 48-hour curfew in the district. The University of Jos suspended examinations due to start on Monday.
“People were here in the evening and unfortunately, wicked terrorists came and attacked our people. We have counted scores of people who are now dead and then so many others are also in the hospital receiving treatment,” Paul Mancha, a resident and chairperson of the youth council in Plateau, said earlier.
U.S. President Donald Trump last November re-designated Nigeria “a country of particular concern” saying Christians were being targeted and authorities were failing to protect them, which the Nigerian government denies.
(This story has been refiled to remove an extraneous letter from paragraph 1)
People gather outside the Angwan Rukuba police outstation, the morning after gunmen killed multiple people in an overnight attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North, Plateau State, Nigeria, March 30, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer Purchase Licensing RightsA Nigerian Red Cross vehicle arrives at the scene of an attack, the morning after gunmen killed multiple people in an overnight attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North, Plateau State, Nigeria March 30, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer Purchase Licensing RightsA Nigerian Red Cross vehicle arrives at the scene of an attack, the morning after gunmen killed multiple people in an overnight attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North, Plateau State, Nigeria March 30, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer Purchase Licensing RightsPeople gather as Nigerian policemen arrive at the scene of an attack, the morning after gunmen killed multiple people in an overnight attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North, Plateau State, Nigeria March 30, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer Purchase Licensing Rights
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
