US urges Nigerian authorities to investigate air strike killing of herders

FILE PHOTO: A Fulani herdsman walks past grazing cattle in Paiko, Nigeria November 27, 2018. Picture taken November 27, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States urged Nigerian authorities on Friday to investigate an air strike that Reuters reported killed dozens of cattle herders earlier this year and highlighted a pattern of deadly aerial assaults.

Dozens of ethnic Fulani herders died in a Jan. 24 aerial bombing in the central state of Nasarawa, according to a Reuters investigation published this week. The deaths raise awkward questions for allies such as the U.S., which arm Nigeria's military as part of ongoing efforts to quell Islamist insurgencies in West Africa.