At least 50 people have been killed while many others were injured in an attack by gunmen in a community in Nigeria’s north-central state of Plateau, local media reported on Monday.
Reports indicated that the gunmen who attacked Zike Kimakpa community in Kwall District of Irigwe Chiefdom, Bassa local government area of Plateau State early Monday morning also set fire on many homes of the residents.
In a telephone interview with journalists, the Secretary General of the Irigwe Development Association (IDA), Danjuma Dickson Auta said the gunmen invaded the area and started shooting sporadically early Monday, adding that bodies of 45 victims of the attacks have been recovered so far.
A Kwall community leader, Wakili Tongwe, said the gunmen invaded the village in the early hours of Monday shooting sporadically while vigilantes were on patrol in another community.
Tongwe told Channels Television that at least thirty-six people were shot dead before the gunmen were repelled by security operatives.
He added that some of those who sustained injuries during the sporadic shooting by the gunmen later died in the hospital.
However, security operatives are yet to comment on the attack. Recall that about 52 people were killed in some communities also in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State about two weeks ago.
Reacting to the latest attack, Plateau Commissioner of Information and Communication, Joyce Ramnap, said: “It is sad that in less than two weeks after our people were killed in Bokkos local government, this sad incident is reoccurring in another community in Bassa local government.”
INSECURITY AND VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.
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