On Tuesday night, gunmen assaulted Maikatako Village in Plateau State’s Bokkos Local Government Area, murdering up to nine people.
It was discovered that the attackers also set a number of houses on fire, which sparked a rush in the neighborhood.
A resident of the Maikato community, John Bature, who managed to flee the attack confirmed the incident.
Bature said “On Tuesday, we did not sleep owing to an attack on our community by gunmen. It was by the Grace of God that I was not killed. Many of our people have already retired to their beds when some persons carrying guns entered the community and started shooting around 9:30 pm. Many people who tried to run were shot. Only this morning, I learnt that nine of the villagers were killed by the gunmen who also set several houses ablaze.”
Captain Oya James, the spokesman for the Military Taskforce in charge of upholding peace in the state, also confirmed the attack but did not provide an exact number of casualties.
He claimed that the incident could have been much worse, but for the prompt response of security personnel stationed in the neighborhood.
James said, “It was around 11 pm on Tuesday that somebody alerted us of an ongoing attack in a community along Bokkos road. We quickly deployed our men and the intervention was very helpful in stopping the attackers in their mission.
When asked to confirm the casualty figure recorded in the community during the attack, the military spokesman responded, “Those killed were not up nine. I will get back to you to give you the actual figure but the situation is calm now.”
