Barely a few days after armed groups launched attacks between Saturday evening and Tuesday morning on Bokkos Local Government Area in Plateau State, the Tangur district in the same local government came under attack on Thursday night.
The Transition Committee Chairman of Bokkos, Monday Kassah disclosed that marauders attacked the community at night burning and destroying homes.
Kassah explained that no death was recorded due to the timely intervention of security personnel.
While giving an update on the Christmas Day attack, the committee chairman explained the number of casualties still stands at 195, further confirming that rescue operations were ongoing to find missing persons.
The Christmas Day attacks which started in the Bokkos area spilled into neighbouring Barkin Ladi where 30 people were found dead, according to local chairman Danjuma Dakil.
Plateau State governor Caleb Mutfwang condemned the violence, calling it “barbaric, brutal and unjustified”.
“The government will take proactive measures to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians,” said Gyang Bere, the governor’s spokesperson.
A resident of Mushu village said people were sleeping when shots rang out.
“We were scared because we weren’t expecting an attack. People hid, but the assailants captured many of us, some were killed, others wounded,” he told AFP.
Amnesty International criticised the government in the wake of the attacks, saying “the Nigerian authorities have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state,” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The plateau region has been riddled for several years by religious and ethnic tensions.
Hundreds of people have been killed while thousands have been rendered homeless in cases of intercommunal violence in recent years.
(CHANNELS)
