Chad militiamen kill seven in West Darfur cattle raid

Seven people were shot dead and eight others were wounded in an armed cattle theft operation allegedly carried out by militiamen from Chad at Mitere administrative unit of Beida locality in West Darfur on Monday.

A herder with his cattle in El Sareif Beni Hussein locality (File photo: Albert González Farran / Unamid)

Seven people were shot dead and eight others were wounded in an armed cattle theft operation allegedly carried out by militiamen from Chad at Mitere administrative unit of Beida locality in West Darfur on Monday.

Witnesses and sources from Beida locality told Radio Dabanga that the raiders netted about 500 head of cattle and drove them across the border into Chad.

The eight killed were: Bahr Ahmed Ismail, Balla Saeed, Khatir Ahmed, Ismail Kulma, Mohamed Abdelkarim, Juma Adam Ahmed and Abdelkarim Albein.

Incidents across the largely unguarded border between Chad and Darfur are common. In December 2017, armed herders from Chad killed a farmer in Jebel Moon locality in West Darfur when he tried to protect his farm against grazing livestock.