Plateau: 27 killed, scores wounded, houses razed in attack in Riyom community
… Residents accuse soldiers of complicity
From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
No fewer than 27 persons were killed and several houses burnt down when gunmen suspected to be herdsmen attacked Jebu, Tahos community of Riyom local government area of Plateau state..
Our correspondent gathered from residents in the community that scores of people were injured when the gunmen stormed the community at about 11 pm and started shooting sporadically.
It was further gathered that the attack was well coordinated as more than 100 attackers stormed the village in the dead of the night, knocking on the doors of their victims and killing them on the spot.
Our correspondent reports that many persons were also injured in the attack and were rushed to the hospitals including Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Plateau Hospital and other health facilities within the state.
National President of Berom Youth Moulder – Association, Dalyop Solomon, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Jos accused members of Fulani ethnic group of launching the attack.
According to Solomon, the gunmen stormed the community on Monday, shooting sporadically and setting several houses ablaze.
He said “27 persons were killed and many were injured. We have taken the bodies to different hospitals before the burial. “
The National President said all corpses, including the injured, have been taken at the hospitals and a date for their burial would be announced.
Former Senator representing Plateau North, Simon Mwadkwon told our Correspondent in a telephone conversation at the scene that the villagers accused soldiers of complicity in the attack, which was launched from Mahanga and the culprits retreated to the place after the attack
He said that soldiers stationed at Hoss did not respond to the attack when a distress message was sent to them.
Mwadkwon saud, “If you are coming from Riyom, before you reach Hawan Kibo, there is a checkpoint. Then at Hawan Kibo, there is a checkpoint.
£And according to the villagers, the soldiers on your way from Riyom did not help matters. They came there, shot sporadically, and left, as if it was a signal they gave to the attackers.
“And immediately they left, the killers came in and they started killing people. But the ones that helped, are the ones at Hawan Kibo, very close to that forest.They are the ones that really, really helped the villagers. Otherwise, there was not a single person in that village.
“So the villagers are suspicious of these other soldiers that came from Hoss. They see them as people that collude with the killers.
“I have always said it and I am not afraid of saying it again that there are three sets of soldiers operating in Plateau. One set are those who truly came to do the work, the second set are those who came to defend their religion and the third are those who came for money. When an attack is reported to them, they’ll just go and collect their money and leave.”
“For long even when I was chairman of the local government I raised the alarm and I said these people have an armoury in that place which they have nicknamed Mahanga And nobody seemed to believe me at that time, until when the attacks became so rampant.
And people were being killed every day. And each time they killed, they see them migrate to that place. That was when they knew that actually what I said was the truth.
But it seems they are creating another armory in a village in Bachi called Bangai because most of these attacks now that is being carried out in communities of Ta-Hoss like Jol, Rim, Bachi, Wereng, Nding and today in Tahos, most of the people came from that axis. And as I talk to you now, they are still on the hills within those places.
“According to the villagers, that there were well over 100 of them that came. So they mobilized people from Nasarawa”
He said that the people are not contemplating any mass burial as autopsies would be conducted on the victims l.
“No, we are not conducting any mass burial. The corpses are being escorted to Jos University Teaching Hospital for autopsy to ascertain the cause of death and then the whole world must know because time in time out we have been doing mass burial and it is done quietly and nobody seems to know what we are going through.
“So they the world should know what we are going through and how the Fulani are coming to the villages at night and kill people and they they should know that it is not headers/ farmers clashes. You don’t rear cattles in the night and you don’t go to the farm in the night and the fight is not always in the farms it’s in the homes the rooms of people so we are not doing mass burial.
Both the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) and the state police command are yet to issue any statement on the situation.
Spokespersons of Operation Safe Haven Maj. Samson Zhakom and the spokesman, state police command, DSP Alabo Alfred, didn’t responded to calls by our correspondent as at press time.
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