Piqued by the continued bloodshed, the Northern Senators Forum has called for urgent action to stop the recurring attacks in Plateau State, saying that condolences alone cannot end the bloodshed.

This followed the killing of no fewer than 25 people, mostly women and children, in the overnight attack on August 18.

In another development, the United States chapter of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), alongside its coalition partners, has condemned what it described as the horrific, blood-soaked invasion of innocent communities in Mangu council.

Stating that it would not look away, the group said the world has grown dangerously numb to this seemingly endless sequence of horrors, adding that “while the international community turns a blind eye, innocent Nigerians continue to be butchered, families are torn apart, communities displaced, homes destroyed, and livelihoods wiped out.”

In a statement yesterday by the forum’s chairman, Abdulaziz Yar’adua, the senators urged the state government to do more within its constitutional and financial capacity, calling for genuine dialogue between farmers, herders and traditional leaders to address the disputes over land, grazing routes and compensation for destroyed property.

They also urged the state government to establish a transparent compensation and resettlement programme for victims and internally displaced persons, while calling for the urgent deployment of drones, CCTV cameras, and early warning systems in identified flashpoints, including Ampang, Kombul, Mangu, and Gindiri.

Calling on governments at all levels to move from reaction to prevention, the senators said security should be focused on preventing attacks rather than responding only after lives and property have been lost, adding that “this cycle of bloodshed must end.”

Sympathising with the victims of previous attacks in Mangu and other parts of the state in the past three years, the forum noted that the violence has claimed hundreds of lives, injured many others and displaced thousands of residents, just as the attacks have destroyed homes and farmlands, further worsening the hardship faced by affected communities.

However, it commended the Nigerian Army and Operation Enduring Peace for their response to the latest attacks and welcomed the deployment of additional troops and equipment to the troubled communities.

It added that relocating the tactical headquarters of Operation Enduring Peace from Jos to Mangu Local Council Area would enable the military to monitor the situation more closely and respond more quickly to emerging threats.

In the meantime, the SNG called for urgent international attention and action to confront those responsible for these heinous crimes, as identified by local victims, community representatives, and civil society organisations, which it said alleged that the attackers were Fulani ethnic militias.

“Regardless of the labels ultimately applied to the perpetrators, one fact is beyond dispute: armed groups are attacking vulnerable civilian communities, killing innocent people, and operating with an unacceptable level of impunity,” it said in a statement by its President and founder, Victor Onyeka-Ben.

“Decades of academic and political debate over whether this crisis should be characterised as religious persecution, a campaign amounting to Christian genocide, terrorism, communal violence, criminality, or a complex combination of socio-economic, ethnic, political and security factors cannot obscure the human tragedy.”

Consequently, called for the intervention of President Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress to stop the killings, saying that “the people living in these vulnerable communities remain largely helpless against heavily armed attackers. Without decisive intervention and stronger security capacity, more innocent Nigerians will continue to die needlessly.

It also commended the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) for its continued fight against terrorism across Africa and its high-impact counterterrorism operations against terrorist organisations and their leadership.

However, it pleaded with AFRICOM and the broader U.S. national-security establishment to “expand strategic attention to the lethal campaign being waged by Fulani ethnic militias and other armed terrorist and criminal networks against vulnerable Nigerian communities.

“Every armed group that targets civilians must be confronted, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, or geographic identity.”