Gunmen storm Plateau village

Kill 5, raze 200 houses....

  

Gunmen suspected to be Tarok assailants have invaded Kuka village of Shendam local government area of Plateau state, killing four persons, injuring five others and burning down more than two hundred houses and twenty mosques. Attahiru Muhammad Rangmen who is a resident of Kuka village said the attackers numbering about 500 came around 5 pm on Saturday and started shooting and burning houses. “We were going about our normal activities when suddenly we began to hear shooting from various angles of the town and from there, everyone started running helter skelter to seek for refuge. The attackers were equipped with sophisticated weapons”, Ragmen said. Ragmen gave the names of the dead as: Abdullah Dungu (35), Alhassan Audu Quala (53), Malam Inuwa Danbaquaiba (69) and Yakubu Kaura (41). Peoples Daily learnt from a source in the area that there were security operatives already stationed in the area prior to the attack but could not repel the attackers, as there were eleven soldiers when the assailants rocked the village. Ragmen further said that other security personnel had to be deployed from neighbouring Taraba state before the attackers were able to be repelled. Umar Ibrahim who is also a resident of the area accused one Captain Shiwan who is the commanding officer of soldiers in the area of complicity in the attack in that he was allegedly informed about the attack but could not do anything to avert it. “The rumour of the attack came to us and we reported it to the commanding officer in the area but he refused to take any prompt action to prevent the occurrence. “We do not know what we did to these people. They burnt all the mosques and houses in Kuka and destroyed all that belong to the Muslims.This is mere hatred. We are calling on all people concerned to intervene in the matter. This is not the first time”, Ibrahim added. When contacted on the incident, spokesperson of the STF in Jos, Captain Salisu Mustafa confirmed the attack, adding that peace has been restored to the area. Prior to the attack , the Muslims forum in Kuka , Yamini, Lakushi Sabonlayi and Ajikamai, on Friday, a day to the said attack, wrote a letter to the sector commander, Special Task Force in Shendam calling his attention on the security of lives of Muslims of the above villages. Part of the letter reads,“…..Tarok people have led to the killing of our people who went to search for their daily bread in surrounding bushes, well over 17 people were murdered in cold blood. But according to an Associated France Presse (AFP) report,some 300 gunmen stormed a mostly Christian village in central Nigeria on Sunday, killing five people and burning scores of homes, police said. The early morning attack targeted the village of Kuka in Plateau state, which roughly falls on the dividing line between Nigeria’s mainly Christian south and predominately Muslim north. Five people were killed and many houses were burnt, said Plateau’s police spokeswoman Felicia Anslem. About 300 attackers invaded the community early on Sunday, she added. Herdsmen from the Fulani-Hausa ethnic group, which is mostly Muslim, have been blamed for scores of attacks on the primarily Christian Berom community. The Berom are considered the state’s indigenous people, which legally gives them enhanced rights, including better access to land, education and public offices. Fulani leaders have for years claimed that the violence can only be tempered if state leaders, who are almost entirely Berom, agree to major political reforms. It was not clear who carried out the latest attack. While Kuka is a mostly Christian village, some of the victims were said to have been Fulanis. The ongoing peace process in Plateau has mostly failed to stop the violence, with deep mistrust persisting between the state’s politicians and the security forces. Berom leaders have accused the military of supporting and at times cooperating with the Fulani, but such allegations have not been definitely proved.