<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Eighteen people, including two policemen, were killed in intercommunal violence between nomadic herders and farmers in central Nigeria's Benue State, officials said Thursday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Violence broke out early on Wednesday when herders stormed Gbeji farming village in Ukum district, shooting indiscriminately, Paul Hemba, security adviser to Benue state governor said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Disputes between cattle herders and local farming settlements over land, grazing and water rights are common in central and northwestern regions of Africa's most populous nation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"From the latest report I received, 18 people were killed in the attack, two policemen and 16 residents of the village," Hemba said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Security agencies were alerted and they deployed in the affected area which helped in stopping the attack, otherwise the casualties would have been higher," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several other people were injured in the attack and were taken to local hospitals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Benue state police commissioner Wale Abbas said the attack was a reprisal for the killing of five ethnic Fulani herders by locals in the area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The crisis started on Tuesday when five Fulani herdsmen were attacked and killed in three separate incidents and their cows rustled," Abbas said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said he was preparing to summon a peace meeting between the herdsmen and the people in the area when he received reports that Gbeji had been attacked by herdsmen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abbas gave a lower death toll of 10, including a policeman, locals and herders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The dead policeman was hit by a stray bullet and died on the way to hospital," Abbas said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Security personnel were searching for the herders and locals accused of involvement in the clashes, he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tensions between communities sometimes take on ethnic and religious dimensions in Nigeria which has dozens of ethnic groups and is almost equally split between the mostly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Northwest and central Nigeria have also been hit hard by violence from criminal gangs called bandits by locals, who raid villages, killing and burning homes after looting them and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>