Gunmen opened fire on mourners in the early hours of Sunday in the Otukpo-Nobi community of Benue state, killing eight and wounding five, state police spokesperson Udeme Edet told AP on Monday [1]. Attackers also set thatched houses and a motorcycle ablaze. Edet said more officers had been deployed to the area. What triggered the shooting was not clear.

Amnesty International Nigeria put the toll higher, at least 10 dead. AP notes the reason for the gap plainly: "Police in Nigeria often report more conservative casualty figures" [1]. Eight is the police count; ten is the rights group's, and the two have not converged.

The two frames also part ways on blame. Amnesty said youth protests after the attack showed residents "have had enough" of raids and abductions that have made "life a hell" in Benue, and demanded that "the government must live up to its main obligation of protecting lives and property" [1]. That is an accountability claim aimed at the state. Edet's account carries no such assignment of fault, and names no suspect or motive. Protesters press one demand; the police statement leaves both the toll and the gunmen's identity open.

Benue is a food-producing state where herders and farmers routinely clash over land and water; last year 150 people were killed in the Yelewata community [1]. This attack has neither a confirmed count nor a named perpetrator.

-- HENDRIK VAN DER BERG, Brussels