The Plateau State Government, on Tuesday, confirmed an attack by bandits on Zurak village, Bashar District, Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The Commissioner for Information, Musa Ashoms, who confirmed the attack in a statement, said nine persons were confirmed dead, dismissing an earlier claim of 40 casualties.
Ashoms said, “The attack in Wase is barbaric and as a government, we are sad by that ugly incident. Our people are peace-loving, hard-working, and very industrious and it is quite unfortunate that that happened to our people. But I read somewhere that some people are saying 40 people were killed. We do not have that number. What we know is that nine people were confirmed dead as confirmed to us by the Chairman of the Implementation Committee of the LGA, the Divisional Police Officer of Wase as well as the state Police Public Relations Officer. So, I don’t know where they got the 40 people they claimed to have been killed.”
Our correspondent learnt that several houses were also set ablaze in the Monday evening attack.
According to residents of the community, who spoke to The PUNCH in Jos on Tuesday, the bandits struck around 7 pm.
They said the bandits attacked the villagers unchallenged as poor communication networks frustrated efforts to alert security agencies.
Read Also:
A youth leader in the area, Sahpi’i Sambo, said the bandits rode on motorcycles and were armed with sophisticated weapons.
“More than 40 people were killed while many others were injured.
“Residents of the village have fled to neighboring communities to take cover. As of yesterday (Monday), security personnel had not yet arrived at the community. It was a deadly attack,” Sambo said.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, DSP Alabo Alfred, said he was in a meeting.
“I will call you later please,” he said.
Also, the spokesman for the Military Task Force in Plateau State, Samson Zhakom, asked for time to get details of what transpired in the council area.
The state Commissioner for Information reiterated the commitment of the government to securing the lives and property of the citizens.
He said, “As a government, we are not happy with the situation and we will continue to work hard in the interest of our people because the groundnum gives us the responsibility of securing the lives and properties of the people. So, we will continue to liaise and collaborate with security agencies to make sure that our people go about their normal businesses without being killed, molested or harassed.”
The Zurak village incident is the latest in the perennial attacks by bandits on Plateau communities.
In a Christmas Eve attack last year on 15 communities in the Bokkos Local Government Area, bandits killed over 100 residents, burnt over 200 houses and left about 10,000 people displaced.
