No fewer than 14 people were killed and five others injured in a renewed attack in the villages of Jos South and Bassa local government areas of Plateau State.
The Chairman of Jos South Local Government, Hon Gideon Dandereng, who visited the scene of the incident, confirmed the attack in Jos.
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Daily Trust reports that the gunmen stormed Kuru village of Jos South and Zogu village in Bassa LGAs separately on Sunday night and started shooting sporadically.
Daily Trust had, on June 8, reported the killing of three herders around Afura/Maiyanga/Gidan Agu area; the boundary between Riyom and Bassa LGAs by militia youths suspected to have come from nearby communities in Bassa LGA.
The Plateau State Police Command, through its spokesperson, ASP Ubah Gabriel, on Monday, confirmed the attack.
He added that only 10 people were killed in the attack and that personnel of the command had already been sent to restore peace in the affected areas.
He said: “Plateau State Police Command received a report that ten persons were shot dead in a drinking joint at Sabon Layi, Kuru in Jos South LGA by yet to be identified gunmen who drove in with a Hilux, shot sporadically and zoomed off.
“Personnel of the Command and the Military have been deployed to the affected area.
“The Commissioner of Police has ordered an immediate investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killing and to bring the perpetrators of that dastardly act to book.
“The Commissioner of Police warned that whosoever is sponsoring or involved in this unwanted killing in the state must be tracked down and will face the full wrath of the law.
“In the incident that happened in kwi some weeks ago, we have arrested three suspects. And that of Dong, we have a list of suspects to be trailed”, he added.
In his reaction to the development, Governor Simon Lalong, who visited one of the areas attacked, said he was distressed by the recent killing of innocent citizens in Sabon Layi, Kuru in Jos South LGA, appealing to citizens to increase surveillance and intelligence gathering as well as collaborate with security agencies to foil such attacks which are carried out in a hit and run fashion by criminals who are bent on disturbing the peace of the State.
He said: “These unprovoked and isolated attacks on soft targets must be stopped at all cost, as the government will never allow few criminal elements to create fear in the hearts of the citizens.”
Daily Trust had reported several killings and counter killings in villages of Jos South, Bassa and Riyom LGAs of the state recently.
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