Death Toll Rises After Deadly Plateau Village Attack, Communities Recount Night of Horror

(Residents count losses. Photo by Amnesty International Nigeria)

The d£ath toll from Sunday night's att@ck on Kawel village in Mushere Chiefdom of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State has reportedly risen to 30, as some of the inj¥red victims succumbed to their wounds while receiving treatment.

Community leaders and residents said the att@ck was carried out by suspected Fulani militias who inv@ded the village in their hundreds in the early hours of Sunday, June 21, at around 4:40 a.m., targeting residents who had already retired for the night.

Among those k!ll3d were health workers, patients receiving treatment at the local hospital, and security personnel caught in the crossfire.

A youth leader in Bokkos LGA, Christopher Luka, who visited the hospital to assess the situation, confirmed that 22 d£aths had been recorded, including women, adding that burial of the victims had been delayed by heavy rainfall since morning.

The Chairman of the Community Peace Observers in Bokkos LGA, Kefas Mallai, put the d£ath toll at no fewer than 25 as of Monday afternoon.

He lamented that despite frantic calls for intervention, security operatives did not arrive in time to confront the inv@ders, and alleged that security agencies had failed to act on prior intelligence about the att@ckers, who he said operated from nearby occupied communities.

"The criminals left without being apprehended, but the security agents are now scattered in the bushes looking for whether they can arrest any of the perpetrators," he said.

The Plateau State Police Command, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, SP Alfred Alabo, confirmed that the att@ck occurred and that officers were immediately mobilised to the scene upon receiving the report.

It said personnel from the command's Violent Crime Response Unit and other security agencies engaged the assailants in a gun battle, forcing them to retreat.

The command confirmed that 18 persons were found d£ad at the scene, with three others rushed to hospital, two of whom later d!ed, bringing the figure it officially acknowledged to 20. It added that the remains of the victims had been released to their families for burial after the families declined an autopsy.

The command said an investigation had been launched and that a manhunt was underway to apprehend the fleeing perpetrators.