48 Killed in Fulani-Kamuku Inter-Communal Clashes in Niger State

At least 48 people were killed in early-morning violence on July 1 in and around Tegina, Rafi LGA, Niger State, when machete-wielding herders invaded a Kamuku community, killing 42 people — mostly women, children, and the elderly. Kamuku fighters staged a retaliatory attack that killed roughly six Fulani herders on a nearby plantation. The violence traces back to the May killing of Fulani community leader Muhammed Shehu, which herders blamed on local 'Askarawa' vigilantes; tit-for-tat reprisals since then destroyed a previously cordial farming-herding relationship in the area. Police initially confirmed a lower toll of 18 dead as the picture emerged before the fuller 48-death count was corroborated by local and national reporting.