30 women, children killed in Adamawa attacks

Thirty women and children were killed in an attack on a Fulani settlement in Nigeria's northeastern Adamawa state, police said late Tuesday.

Othman Abubakar, police spokesman for Adamawa, said in a statement that Monday's attacks on Numan villages were carried out by suspected Bachama farmers, and an investigation had been launched to arrest the suspects.

"We were told the attackers hailed from the affected areas. We are on the top of the situation and already investigations have commenced to fish out those involved," he said.

Abubakar added locals claimed the local Bachama farmers - also indigenous to the area - were behind the attacks.

Mafindi Danburam, head of the herdsmen's umbrella body Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), also claimed that a militia linked to the local farming tribe had masterminded the attacks.

Farmers-herdsmen violence has created a serious security threat across Nigeria, especially in the Middle Belt. The crisis is often blurred by armed bandits also waging attacks to steal herds or raid local communities, according to experts on rural banditry in the country.