About 17 people have been killed by gunmen in an attack on Acha community, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau state.
The the gunmen who attacked the community on Tuesday night also burnt several houses
An eyewitness said the gunmen shot sporadically into the air on their arrival to the community.
The military Special Task Force on Security in Plateau (Operation Safe Haven), confirmed the incident in a statement signed by its Information Officer, Major Ishaku Takwa.
Takwa said, “In the late hours of Tuesday, 11 January 2022, troops of Operation Safe Haven received a distress call of an attack on Acha community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau.”
He said, “The troops responded swiftly and mobilised to the village. On reaching the community, the attackers had fled the village. Houses were destroyed and some villagers lost their lives during the attack.”
The statement said further that troops were on the trail of the assailants.
Meanwhile the Plateau state governor, Simon Lalong, has condemned the attack, describing it as barbaric.
He ordered security agencies to fish out the attackers and
bring them to justice.
Lalong, in a statement signed by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Simon Macham, said the attack which was another sad tale in the unending cycle of violence in the area which has continued despite several measures taken by government.
He urged the General Officer, Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armoured Division, Commander, Operation Safe Haven, the Commissioner of Police, the Department of State Services (DSS), Operation Rainbow and other security organs in the state to utilise intelligence available from survivors and other sources to ensure that the perpetrators of the attack and indeed other attacks are apprehended and exposed.
While commiserating with the families of those killed and survivors, the governor directed the State Emergency Management Agency and the Peace Building Agency to move in and assess the damage as well as offer immediate humanitarian intervention.
