Police in Nigeria’s North central Plateau state say they’ve deployed additional officers to nine communities where suspected terrorists killed more than 70 people and set fire to their homes on Sunday.
News Central gathered that the tragic incident has forced hundreds of locals to flee their homes since then.
The Plateau State Police public relations officer, Gabriel Ubah, told reporters that police have sent reinforcements to the affected villages including Kukawa, Giyanbahu, Dangur and Keren.
“We’re doing our possible best. Security operatives will be deployed to the areas and we’ve also renewed our strategies which will not be made known to the public. It’s an in-house security strategy that has been put in place,” he said.
According to Ubah, the number of people killed in the strikes has yet to be determined. More bodies were discovered Monday, according to locals.
On Sunday, armed gangs stormed the villages in broad daylight, shooting indiscriminately and torching homes. Farmers who were tilling their fields in preparation for planting, according to locals, were among the victims. The attackers are said to have kidnapped dozens of individuals, including women and children.
The attacks came less than a week after 17 people were slain in Plateau during a ceremony to pray for peace and a plentiful harvest.
Attacks by armed groups are growing more regular in northwest and central Nigeria, drawing widespread condemnation of the Nigerian government.
Gunmen suspected to be terrorists attacked a military base in Kaduna state last week, killing 15 people.
Terrorists stormed a train in Kaduna late last month, killing eight people and capturing hundreds more. The majority of the kidnapped people have yet to be released. Abductees were seen in a video published Monday pleading with police for assistance.
Authorities must bear responsibility for failing to protect the people, according to security expert Kabiru Adamu.
“It is very important that we introduce monitoring and evaluation within the security sector and include in this monitoring and evaluation key performance indicators so that persons who let down the ball and allowed these attacks to happen are held accountable and whatever the punishment or penalty for that is meted out on them. We also need to increase the participation of the communities in the security operations,” said Adamu.