At least 18 people, including a soldier, were killed when Nigerian troops raided a town to quell a protest over ballot-rigging in last week’s local government election, a local reporter said on Tuesday.
Some press reports, citing witnesses, put the death toll in Sunday’s clash as high as 30, after soldiers fought with local mobs armed with machetes and home-made firearms in the rural town of Donga, in eastern Nigeria.
”Trouble began early in the morning when a convoy carrying a state government delegation to see the chief of Donga was attacked by a mob, who accused the government of overturning the results of last week’s local government polls,” said local television reporter Ibrahim Mbar.
The chief, Donga’s traditional ruler, intervened to protect his guests and they managed to escape, but later a detachment of troops arrived in the community and opened fire on the protesters, Mbar said.
”Although the police insisted that only three people were killed, including a soldier, the latest reports from Donga put the death toll at 18, including the soldier,” he said by telephone from Jalingo, capital of Taraba state.
Donga is a remote rural market town in the Benue river basin, Taraba state, 420km east of the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Scores of Nigerians have been killed in local faction fighting and assassinations associated with last week’s chaotic local government elections, which were marred by widespread violence and blatant electoral fraud. — Sapa-AFP