ABOUT four people have been reportedly killed in a fresh attack by suspected gunmen in two villages of the Miango district of Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State.
This was disclosed by the district’s traditional council and development association on behalf of the Rigwe nation’s leadership.
The organisation described the recent spike in attacks and killings in the state as ‘barbaric’ and ‘callous.
According to the association’s national publicity secretary, Davidson Malison, the assailants attacked the Nkienzha community in the Miango district of Rigwe chiefdom early on Monday, February 11.
He said the attack caused three fatalities and one serious injury from machete cuts, which was being treated at a hospital.
He also said attackers ambushed a car on Friday, February 9, resulting in the burning of the vehicle and injuries to one of the occupants.
He added another attack on Teegbe village within the district on Saturday night claimed a life.
The Rigwe nation’s leadership described the resurgence of attacks and killings in the state as brutal and heartless.
The president of the Irigwe Development Association, Robert Ashi, and the supreme monarch of the Rigwe Chiefdom, Ronku Aka, a reverend, pleaded with security agencies to ensure those responsible for the attack were apprehended and made to face the law.
The ICIR attempted to confirm the attacks from the state Police public relations officer, Alfred Alabo. He neither picked up the calls put across to his line nor responded to a message sent to his line.
The latest incidents add to a series of attacks on communities in recent weeks.
Over 100 people were killed during attacks on 2023 Christmas Eve in the Barkin Ladi and Bokkos LGAs in the state.
Homes and farms were set on fire during the attack.
The state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, imposed a 24-hour curfew on the Mangu LGA in response to a similar attack.
The ICIR reported on January 24, 2023, that despite the curfew, over 15 people were killed in the LGA by attackers.
The ICIR gathered that the victims were killed and burnt in their village in what seems like a reprisal attack to the killings of some Fulanis in some Muslim-dominated communities in the LGA.
According to a local source who spoke with The ICIR, before the curfew was declared on January 22, a community believed to be harbouring Fulanis was attacked by Christians retaliating against alleged earlier attacks by the Fulanis.
“The killings are more of a reprisal attack because yesterday morning, there was an attack on a community that harboured Fulanis who are killing Christians in Mangu LGA, saying that if they did not allow their people to live in the village, why should they (Fulani) come and live in the community?.
“It was more of a coordinated attack because they went to Sarbot, Mairana, but were unable to attack Mairana, and they went to Kinat,” the source said.
The source accused the military of bias in the crisis and said the violence had an ethno-religious undertone.
A reporter with the ICIR
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