No less than 38 civilians –mostly women and children, were brutally murdered by the marauding gunmen in a midnight raid on Tuesday in the state’s Mangu local government area when gunmen resumed their attacks in Plateau State after a brief respite.
The Mangu local government in Plateau State has imposed a 24-hour curfew to stop the deplorable situation, and Governor Simon Lalong has also ordered security personnel to hunt down and apprehend the assailants.
Many people were killed early last month when gunmen struck Murish village in the Bokkos Local Government Area and Jwak Mai Tumbi in the Mangu Council, along with isolated killings in the state’s north.
According to a source close to one of the Fungzai neighborhoods where the most recent attack occurred, the gunmen broke into the neighborhood at around 1:00 a.m. and went on a shooting rampage to chase the residents out of their homes.
“Before the gunmen attacked our community, they had earlier attacked Kubat, a village bordering the Bokkos local government area of the state. The village is close to us, and when we heard of the gunshot, we told our women and children to come out to avoid being trapped in their houses.
“Before we could put our act together, the gunmen who were in large numbers struck, shooting at random, and in the process killed twenty-nine people, mostly women and children, who were escaping in a truck from the community.
“As I am talking to you, I am beside the 29 corpses that have been recovered, and there are others still missing. We are tired of this incessant attack; we want the security agencies to come to our aid,” said the source.
It was gathered that the gunmen attacked the Fungzai community in Kubat village, where they killed no less than nine people and set buildings on fire.
It was discovered that the village is currently desolate because the majority of the survivors have fled and are now seeking safety in other settlements.
The governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong, has denounced the midnight attack on Kubat Village in Mangu Local Government, where several people, reportedly including women and children, were killed and has ordered security personnel to go after the assailants and make sure they are captured.
The Governor, in a statement signed by the Director of Press, Dr. Makut Simon Macham
described this as yet another attempt by crisis merchants and criminals to return the state to the dark days of pain and agony, vowing that the government will stop at nothing to ensure that those behind this scheme are dealt with mercilessly.