The death toll has now risen to 20, following the persistent attacks on some villages in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The attackers, the villagers allege, are Fulani herdsmen.
Only at the week end, four more people were reportedly killed in Bassa Local Government Area.
The victims were murdered in their sleep by gunmen who invaded Laake village in Kwall district of the LGA.
The National President of Irigwe Development Association, Mr. Sunday Abdul, said the gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen stormed Laake village in a commando-like operation, killing four children while they were asleep.
The onslaught started last Wednesday when gunmen, in their large numbers, invaded both Dafo and Josho villages in the local government, and sustained the attack till Friday.
The attackers, it was further learnt, killed 18 people while two others died on their way to the hospital in Jos.
Worse hit villages include Ngakudung, Farunhai, Mhorok, Ganda and Warrem-Hotom.
Also hit were Maidunna and Josho, where Senator Joshua Dariye (APC/Plateau Central) took relief materials to last week, following an attack on the village in February.
According to the councillor representing Dafo ward, Mr. Danjuma Mabas, apart from the 20 that were given mass burial on Saturday, there are several others that are still missing, adding that over 50 houses were burnt.
“The attackers,” he said, “swooped on the two villages in their large numbers ahead of President Mohammadu Buhari’s visit to Plateau State, having got wind of the fact that the security men had been withdrawn to provide security for the president.
“As of Friday evening, no fewer than 20 people were killed, over 50 houses were burnt while several other people are still missing,” Mabas said.
Another native of Bokkos, Reverend Mamot Daladi Adams, said the withdrawal of security men from the local government paved the way for the gunmen to launch the attack on the villages.
He said: “From our findings, the security men on ground in the local government were withdrawn to protect Mr. President, who was on a two-day visit to Plateau State. The rate of attacks in the State is highly disturbing; no fewer than five traditional rulers have been killed in this local government in recent times, yet the government is misinforming the Federal government that there is peace in the State.”
Some of the villagers said the attackers wore “black uniform” and carried sophisticated guns.
“The attackers wore black uniforms and had something that looked liked a scarf on their heads,” one Malo Mafulul, reported at Ganda village.
Wabas, who confirmed Mafulul’s claims, described the situation as “scary,” saying that more people were still unaccounted for.
Major Umar Adams, the spokesman of Operation Save Haven (OPSH), the security outfit in charge of security in Plateau, confirmed the attacks.
Reacting to the allegation that the redeployment of military men to reinforce security operatives in Jos during Buhari’s visit paved the way for killings in both Bokkos and Bassa local governments, the Media Officer of STF, Major Umar Adams, said soldiers were not redeployed from the two areas to Jos.
According to him, the military men used during Buhari’s visit were those within Jos metropolis and its environs, adding that when the command got wind of the incident in Bokkos, it reacted promptly and was able to arrest five people in connection with the incident.
The state government also denied the insinuation that security men were withdrawn from both Bokkos and Bassa to reinforce the security men in Jos during the president’s visit.
- NAN