No fewer than 184 persons were assassinated by hit men in Nigeria, Somalia and some other African countries between 2019 and 2020.

The victims reportedly belonged to eight target groups: politics and governance; local community;  security; illicit markets; media; criminal justice; the  private sector and the international community.

This was revealed by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime in its 2021 Global Assassination Monitor unveiled last Thursday.

The report also found that 2,700 individuals were murdered by hired killers across 84 countries in the last two years.

Titled, ‘Killing in silence: Monitoring the role of organised crime in contract killings,’ the Global Assassination Monitor is an event database, covering assassinations reported in the media between 2019 and 2020.

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Data was collected according to several variables, including the date, location, information about victims and perpetrators, and dynamics of the incidents, such as motive, method and price paid for the killing.

The highest number of contract killings was recorded in the Americas, accounting for 37 per cent of all recorded cases, closely followed by Asia, which accounted for 33 per cent; Africa, 24 per cent, while Europe accounted for only six per cent.

By region, Africa recorded 184 cases; North and South America, 280; Asia, 254; Europe 46 and Oceania 1.

The 112-page report read in part, “In the Americas, for example, most cases were recorded in Colombia and Mexico, which together accounted for 74 per cent of all recorded contract killings in the database for the Americas.

“Similarly, in Asia most cases were concentrated in South Asia, more specifically Pakistan (18%) and Afghanistan (18%). In Africa, the majority were recorded in Somalia (33%) and Nigeria (12%).”

A group breakdown indicates that in Africa, 51 persons were killed in local community; 57 in politics and governance; 28 in security; seven in illicit market; five in the media; 10 in the criminal justice; 12 in private sector; five not reported, four others and six in international community.