The communities of Kubwat and Fungzai in the Kombun district of the Mangu local government area of Plateau State was thrown into confusion in the early hours of Tuesday as gunmen invaded the areas,leaving many people killed and houses burnt.
A resident of Fungzai community, Israel Ephraim said the victims are mostly women and children who were ambushed by the attackers when they were running for safety.
He said, “We saw smoke and fire from the neighbouring village at about midnight, houses were being burnt so in our village, we asked women and children to come out and move away from the direction where gunshots were coming from. It was on the way that they were ambushed and killed.
“I lost four of my family members, as we speak, we are still picking corpses so we are not certain yet about the number of people killed. There is still tension in the village. Some military people came but they could not do much, we are still confused because we don’t know what prompted this act of wickedness.”
At the time of this report, neither the Police nor Operation Safe Haven, OpSH keeping the peace in the State could react to the incident because none of their spokespersons picked up the calls but the State government condemned the attack.
Meanwhile, Governor Simon Lalong, according to a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Makut Macham “orders security forces to apprehend the attackers.”
He said, “Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong woke up Tuesday 16th May 2023 to distressing news of an overnight attack on Kubat Village in Mangu Local Government where some persons including women and children were reportedly killed. Governor Lalong who is seriously disturbed about the sad development has immediately directed security forces to pursue the attackers and ensure they are arrested.
“He describes this as yet another attempt by crises merchants and criminals to return the State to the dark days of pain and agony, vowing that the Government will stop at nothing to ensure that those behind this scheme are dealt with mercilessly. While condemning the act, the Governor commiserates with the victims and assures that the murderers will not be allowed to go unpunished as this is an act that can neither be tolerated nor excused no matter the motivation.
“The Governor has equally directed the State Emergency Management Agency and the Peace Building Agency to visit the area and ascertain the humanitarian need to bring succour to the affected while a thorough investigation is being carried out.”
