TERRORISTS have issued fresh threats to residents of Pushit community in Mangu local government area (LGA), days after people were massacred in the area in a terror attack.
Deputy national publicity secretary of the Middle Belt Forum, Stanley Kavwam, disclosed this during an interview, saying the terrorists threatened to launch the attack on Friday, December 29, in a warning conveyed to the community via a letter by the terrorists.
“A letter was sent to my own village by the terrorists that the attackers were going to invade on the 29th of this December. All the attacks that were orchestrated, there was a letter to that effect that was dropped by an anonymous person, intimating the residents of Mangu LGA that there would be attacks,” he said.
According to a report, the Plateau state Police command confirmed they were aware of the impending attack.
“We have intelligence, but we are working on it,” the command’s public relations officer Alfred Alabo said.
However, Kavwam alleged that security operatives were aware of previous threats issued before the Christmas Eve attack but did not prevent it.
“They received about 37 distress calls, Operation Safe Haven or the Joint Task Force. About 37 distress calls! Yet nothing was done. They know where they orchestrate the attacks from because that autonomous community called Manga, is at the foot of Bokkos hills, bordering Wamba in Nasarawa state to the south,” Kavwa said.
While residents of Plateau state were preparing for Christmas festivities, gunmen attacked the Bakkos and Barki Ladi LGAs of Plateau state, killing scores and razing down buildings.
The attacks began on Saturday, December 23 and continued to Sunday, December 24.
The ICIR reported that over seventy people were killed during the attack, but by Thursday, December 28, the death toll increased to 195, according to Plateau state commissioner for information and communication Musa Ashoms.
Plateau has battled terror attacks and insecurity in several parts of the state for over a decade, especially in the Mangu LGA.
In September, The ICIR reported that over 200 people were killed in the in four months.
The state Governor Caleb Mutfwang had said the attacks were deliberate attempts aimed at exterminating residents and taking over Plateau’s land and mineral resources.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.