At least 23 people, including women and children, have been killed in a suspected reprisal attack on Bin-Per community in Kombun District of Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Gatekeepers News reports that the attack occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, less than 48 hours after Fulani residents were reportedly targeted in Jwak Maitumbi, also in Mangu LGA. Several people were killed in that earlier incident, while about 45 residential shelters and large quantities of crops were destroyed.
According to Zagazola Makama, suspected attackers invaded the predominantly farming community through an isolated route from the neighbouring Bokkos axis. They reportedly entered the community while residents were asleep.
Troops of Sector 8, Operation Enduring Peace, were deployed after security authorities received reports of the attack. However, the attackers had already withdrawn by the time the troops arrived.
Security personnel later conducted a search of the community and recovered 16 bodies, including those of women and children. The military said further searches were ongoing to establish the full number of casualties.
The Councillor representing Kombun Ward, Lemun Le’an Iliya, and the Mwaghavul Youth Movement put the death toll at 23 to 24 people. Reuters later reported that residents said the number of fatalities had risen to at least 25 after additional victims died.
The latest violence has heightened concerns over renewed cycles of reprisal attacks in Plateau State, where disputes involving farming communities and herders have repeatedly resulted in killings, displacement and destruction of homes and farmlands.
Security agencies are continuing efforts to establish the full circumstances surrounding the attack and prevent further violence in the affected communities.
