Some yet-to-be-identified armed groups yesterday killed no fewer than 160 people in Plateau State in a series of attacks on villages, local government officials have confirmed.
In a region that has been beset by religious and ethnic strife for numerous years, the toll was a significant increase from the initial figure announced by the army on Sunday evening, which was just 16 dead.
‘As many as 113 persons have been confirmed killed as Saturday hostilities persisted to early hours of Monday,’ Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, told reporters.
Military gangs, locally called ‘bandits’, launched “well-coordinated” attacks in “not fewer than 20 different communities” and torched houses, Kassah said.
‘We found more than 300 wounded people’ who were transferred to hospitals in Bokkos, Jos and Barkin Ladi, he said.
A provisional toll by the local Red Cross reported 104 deaths in 18 villages in the Bokkos region.
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According to Dickson Chollom, a member of the state parliament, no fewer than 50 people were also reported dead in several villages in the Barkin Ladi area.
He condemned the attacks and called on the security forces to act swiftly.
“We will not succumb to the tactics of these merchants of death. We are united in our pursuit of justice and lasting peace,” Chollom said.
The attacks which started in the Bokkos area spilled into neighbouring Barkin Ladi where 30 people were found dead, according to local chairman Danjuma Dakil.
On Sunday, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang condemned the violence, calling it “barbaric, brutal and unjustified”.
“Proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians,” said Gyang Bere, the governor’s spokesperson.
Gunfire could still be heard on late Monday afternoon, according to a source from the region. The area is on the dividing line between Nigeria’s mostly Muslim north and mainly Christian south.
Markus Amorudu, 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 reporters.
Amnesty International criticised the government in the wake of the attacks. It said “the Nigerian authorities have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state,” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Plateau is part of the region long terrorised by bandit militias operating from bases deep in forests and raiding villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom.
Competition for natural resources between nomadic herders and farmers, intensified by rapid population growth and climate pressures, has also exacerbated social tensions and sparked violence.
A jihadist conflict has raged in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing around two million.