No fewer than 36 persons were burned to death when Fulani bandits attacked Yelwan Zangam community in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The massacre reportedly occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, leaving women, children and the aged dead in their sleep.
This is coming few weeks after scores of travelers were killed in Gada-biyu – Rukuba road.
On August 18, gunmen launched an attack on Bassa LGA of Plateau, killing five residents and injuring several others.
Paramount ruler of the Anaguta ethnic nationality in the state, Ujah Johnson Jauro newsmen in Jos on Wednesday that several victims while several others who sustained injuries during the attack have been rushed to the Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos, the state capital.
The Paramount ruler said, “Yes, it’s true. I have been informed that some gunmen attacked my people last night in Naraguta community with many casualties. But we are still investigating to know what really happened.”
The Councilor for Ahwol Ward in the community, Yusuf Ali, who also confirmed the attack, said that people were burnt alive in the affected area.
Another resident, Jeremiah Bulus, said, “corpses have been taken to the mortuary this morning and people are still making efforts to recover more corpses from several houses which the gunmen also set ablaze. The situation is really bad for the people ”
According to the Councillor, the gunmen first vandalised the iron bridge linking the community before attacking the people which made it difficult for the security agents to assess the area when they were contacted over the attacks
He said “The gunmen were just shooting in every direction when they arrived the community around 10 pm. For now, dead bodies have been recovered and we are still searching for more victims because the shooting was too much.
“When the attack was going on, the Chairman of the Local Government called the security agents to mobilize to the area but it was discovered that the gunmen destroyed the iron bridge linking the community.”
The Spokesman for the Plateau Police Command, Ubah Ogaba, could not be reached when contacted.