Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that the death toll in Tuesday’s attack on communities in the Mangu Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State has now soared to 85 as the search for missing persons is still ongoing in the affected communities.
The National President, Mwaghavul Development Association, Joseph Gwankat, made the revelation while speaking to newsmen on Thursday after a security meeting at the palace of the traditional ruler in mangu.
Gwankat disclosed that several communities were attacked simultaneously by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, leading to killings as well as burning of houses and destruction of farmlands in the affected communities.
Protesting women had besieged the palace of the traditional ruler where the security meeting was convened with security chiefs, district heads and government officials led by the Deputy Governor, Professor Sonni Tyoden, to address the security challenge in the LGA.
Read Also: 40 Worshippers Abducted As Terrorists Attack Kaduna Church
The Mishkcham Mwaghavul, John Putmang Hirse, alongside the local government chairman and district heads from the communities appealed for the deployment of reinforcements to the communities to safeguard citizens.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Plateau, in North-central Nigeria has witnessed several cases of attacks on farming communities by armed nomadic herdsmen.
The attacks are usually economic as herdsmen, migrating from the more arid far north seek grazing areas for their cattle.
However the violence often take ethnic and religious dimensions as the herders are often Fulani Muslims while the natives are often Christians.
Thousands of people have been killed or injured in such violence in the past few years.
The Plateau State Police Command on Wednesday said it arrested five persons suspected to have participated in the attack launched on Tuesday morning in two villages in Mangu Local Government.
The police said they recovered an AK 47 rifle, a revolver pistol and cartridges.
Although the police is yet to give the number of those who lost their lives, residents told journalists that more than 30 people were killed in the incident.