40 killed in midnight attack on Plateau community

At least 40 people were killed and many others injured on Monday in a midnight attack on the Zike community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

This comes less than two weeks after terrorists killed at least 52 people in the same local government area. Despite the promise by the federal government to end the senseless killings and unrest in the state, the violence has continued unabated with attacks and reprisals.

A community leader, Wakili Tongwe, told Channels TV that the killers stormed the village in the early hours of Monday, shooting indiscriminately.

Mr Tongwe said his team of vigilantes and some security personnel were on patrol in another community when the attack happened.

He said by the time his team returned to repel the attack, the assailants had killed 36 people, while four persons who suffered severe injuries died later.

Those who sustained injuries have been taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

The police spokesperson in Plateau, Alfred Alabo, could not be reached by phone. As of press time, he had not responded to an SMS sent to him.

Plateau: A hot-bed of violence

Notably, the violence in Plateau started in 1994, the same year as the Rwanda Genocide that killed thousands of people.

The violence worsened following the 2001 ethno-religious rift between Christians and Muslims in the North-central state.

A timeline, as documented by PREMIUM TIMES, showed that nearly 5,000 people had been killed in the endless clashes between different ethnic groups in the state.

The Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA) archived some violent incidents from 1994 to 2021. Data for the subsequent years were gathered from media reports.

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Subsequent unrests, like that of Mangu in 2023, however, were triggered by competition between farming and herding communities over limited resources.

The Mangu violence claimed more than 300 lives. It was followed by the infamous Christmas Eve attack that killed at least 150 in neighbouring Barkin Ladi LGA.