I9 killed, five injured in Plateau attack

No fewer than 19 people were killed late on Thursday and in the early hours of yesterday at Ancha village in Miango town of Bassa Council of Plateau State.

Many people were left injured in the early morning attack.The state Police Command confirmed that 19 persons were killed and five others injured in the attack.

State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Peter Ogunyanwo, who briefed yesterday in Jos, said: “We are investigating the matter, but from our findings so far, the attack was carried out by Fulani herdsmen to avenge the killing of a young boy.

“We have been told that a Fulani boy resident in the village was reported missing on August 3. We are told that his body was later found without the head,” he said.

According to Ogunyanwo, the attackers invaded the village in the early hours of yesterday and unleashed mayhem on innocent citizens, saying: “Of the 19 persons that died, 13 are adults, comprising seven males and six females, while six are children.

“The five persons injured have been taken to the hospital and are responding to treatment.” The Police chief said five suspects were arrested over the missing Fulani boy, but that no arrest had been made in respect of the yesterday’s attack.

He said security personnel had been deployed to the area to forestall another reprisal attack, and cautioned the people against taking the law into their hands.

The villagers said the attack lasted over an hour, adding that some people who escaped from the attack and ran into the bush were badly injured and almost rejected at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), where the Police took them.

In his reaction, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Public Affairs, Dan Manjang, told journalists that the governor was holding a special security meeting over the incident.