UPDATED: DEATH TOLL IN PLATEAU FRESH ATTACK RISES TO 51 (PHOTOS)
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The number of casualties from Monday’s brutal attack on Zike community in Kimakpa, Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau State, has risen to 51, with numerous homes reportedly set ablaze.
Speaking to our correspondent by phone, Kwall community leader, Wakili Tongwe, said the attackers stormed the village in the early hours of the morning, opening fire on residents who fled in panic at the sound of gunshots.
Tongwe explained that he and a group of vigilantes, along with some security agents, were on patrol in a nearby community when the assailants launched their deadly raid.
Although security personnel engaged the attackers and eventually repelled them, significant damage had already been inflicted. At least 36 individuals were killed on the spot, while four others later succumbed to their injuries.
Several other residents suffered gunshot wounds and are currently receiving treatment in the hospital.
As of now, security agencies in Plateau State have not released an official statement regarding the incident, which comes less than two weeks after 52 people were killed in a series of attacks on communities in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state.
Sponsored, Genocidal
Plateau State has, for several decades, been a hotbed of killings, with gunmen sacking entire communities. About 200 people were killed at Christmas 2023 celebrations during a bloody attack on a majority Christian community.
In May last year, around 40 people were killed and homes torched in the town of Wase.
Experts blame the fight for resources between farmers and herders as a major cause of the attacks.
But the governor of the state, Caleb Muftwang, says there is more to the attacks.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists. The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism? This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel,” the governor said on a recent edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He said bandits have taken over 64 communities in the state.
“As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau between Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Riyom local governments,” Muftwang said. “They have been taken over, renamed, and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy.”
The Federal Government has been talking tough following the recent wave of attacks, vowing to flush out the assailants. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, “ordered the immediate and comprehensive deployment of police tactical assets to the affected areas of the state”.
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