20101204
This Day

Seven people have again been killed in a fresh attack on Nwachukwu village in Kwal, Miango, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, the Commander of the Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis, Brig. Gen Hassan Umoru, has confirmed.

He said "the attack was carried out at about 02:23 am on Friday, December 3 in which seven people were killed and four others sustained injuries".

Meanwhile, the state Police Command which also confirmed the killings had said investigations are in top gear to track down the perpetrators. The attack was suspected to be a reprisal of the alleged killing of a Fulani herdsman in Gero village of Jos South LGA of the state, marking the fifth of such attacks in two months.

The four people injured are currently receiving treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), while the dead ones have been buried in a mass grave by their relations.

The STF spokesman, Navy Lt Jerry Ayim-Odu said "among the seven victims were two men, the remaining five were women and children."

Ayim-odu said: "The Fulanis are the suspects in this fresh attack, but that will be confirmed by the police investigation; we have already handed over the investigation to the police because we know they are capable, and at the end of their investigation we will be able to know if the attack was actually carried out by Fulanis," adding that when the STF troops got there and trailed the attackers they only found empty cases of cartridges daggers mostly used by the Fulanis.

"However, we are not sure, we are only suspecting, but the police investigation will confirm who the assailants are". He addedRegarding the series of attack especially in Jos South local government and Bassa local government of the state,

On the spate of attacks in the recent past, Umoru has said, "We are taking note of these attacks which are getting worrisome, but the police are on top of the situation. The investigation might be slow but the police are trying their best and we hope they will reveal the people that behind these attacks at the end of it".

He said, "What people did not understand in our operation is the difficulty we face in the task. Plateau is very wide and has very terrible terrain, full of hills, rocks, gullies and so on. We often find it difficult to get to where these attacks are carried out.

"Due to this obvious hindrance to our operation, our troops don't always get to these points of attack until the assailants are gone. But it does not end there, we launch investigation after each of these attacks and we hope eventually we will found out the attackers. We are doing this together with the police and the police are doing everything possible in their investigation too."In any case, we have deployed our troops to the areas to prevent further attack" He said.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdulrahman Akano, has assured that the police were working with other security agencies to nip such incidents in the bud.

He said the police would step up investigation into this and similar attacks with a view to getting to the root of it. He appealed to the people to remain calm.