Fresh attack: Five Youths Killed In Plateau 

By Stephen Asaba-ase

The Bokkos Local Government Area of plateau State, has experienced another brutal killing of five persons by some unidentified gunmen.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Chairman, Farmasum Fuddang of the Bokkos local area, published on Vanguard.

The statement reads, “the incident occurred on Sunday night when some youths were in transit within the local government area.

The statement also stressed that the unarmed youths were assaulted when they were going from Mbar town to Koh village along a bypass encircling Yelwa Nono village by some escaping terrorists on a motorcycles, adding that they were initially pursued by the military from the surrounding mountains.

The group condemned the attack leading to the killing of five innocent young men in the Mbar community despite prior intelligence reports of suspected terrorists’ influx into the area.

However, the Chairman expressed concerns on the continuous unprovoked attacked to an innocent citizens, which is perceived to be a deliberate attempts to evict the indigenes from their ancestral homes and taking over the land by force

“Before the security men were informed about the attack, the terrorists had already left the scene several minutes later, the terrorists had completed their assignment and fled without been apprehended.

“This incident adds to a series of armed attacks in our villages, including the recent murder of eleven youths in Tarangol, Daffo, and Bargesh villages on September 3rd 2024.

“We request to be involved in handling the threats in our land, working in synergy with security forces as is the case with the civilian joint task force in the northeast and northwest regions.

“This is not to undermine or underrate the efforts of the military. However, we understand the logistics and manpower shortages faced by the military, requiring the active participation of local community members who know the terrain and can better assist with intelligence to identify and expose criminal elements in communities,” the group said.

The Bokkos Local Government Council led by the Director of Personnel Management, Christy Loyi, confirmed the incident and visited the families that were affected and assured that security architecture would be reinforced in the local government area.