ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An armed group killed at least 20 people in a community located in the north-central region of Nigeria, police said Monday.
The attack occurred Sunday in the Kawel community located in the Bokkos area of Plateau State, police spokesman Alfred Alabo said in a statement.
Police officers quickly arrived at the scene and exchanged gunfire with the assailants, forcing them to retreat, Alabo said. No arrests were reported.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in a region that has experienced a recurring pattern of violence.
“The remains of the victims have since been released to their families for burial, as the families declined autopsy,” Alabo said.
Plateau State Gov. Caleb Mutfwang instructed the government's emergency management and humanitarian agencies to provide immediate relief and support to victims and families, spokesperson Joyce Ramnap said in a statement.
An insurgency in northeastern Nigeria has killed thousands of people and displaced millions over the years, according to the United Nations. Armed gangs are also active in the northwest and north-central parts of the country.
A nighttime attack in March, killed 20 people in Gari Ya Waye community in Plateau.
FILE - Police officers gather at the scene of a gunmen attack in Gari Ya Waye community in the Jos North, Nigeria, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Omale, File)
PARIS (AP) — Millions of people across France woke up drenched in sweat on Tuesday after another night of scorching heat, with most of the population exposed to extreme and exceptional temperatures, while 40 people died from drowning over the past five days in the country.
Temperatures will remain high around the clock as the national weather service, Meteo France, placed 54 departments under a red heat wave alert. That is about half of the country.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said after a crisis meeting that the 40 people who died by drowning since last Thursday were mainly young people.
In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, trains and sporting events remain impacted.
Human-caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather, and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records.
“Sunshine continues to dominate across France, maintaining oppressive and exhausting heat throughout the country,” Meteo France said. Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many towns.
“Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” Meteo France said.
The heat wave is exceptionally intense, coming very early in the summer, “but with a still uncertain duration,” the weather service said. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in over half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.
France introduced a heat watch warning system after that heat wave.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Over the last four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month. The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.
Across the English Channel, the Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts suggesting June’s all-time daily temperature record could be broken.
Temperatures of around 37°C (98.6 F) are expected in southern England, with up to 35°C (95 F) in southeast Wales. The peak of the heat wave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach at least 39°C (102.2 F). Conditions are expected to ease by Friday, the weather agency said.
The EU monitoring agency found that in Europe and globally, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the continent experienced its second-highest number of “heat stress” days.
Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.
This story corrects the name of the body of water between France and the U.K. to the “English Channel.”
People cool off in a water spray at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A family walks through a cooling water spray at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A man shields himself from the sun with a scarf as he walks in the garden of the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, during a heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Tourists with an umbrella take a photo in Paris, as France is enduring a grueling heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena )
A drugstore sign shows the temperature 43 degrees Celsius (109,4 degrees Fahrenheit) in Rennes, western France, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
