In yet another heart-wrenching incident in Plateau State, at least 40 persons have been confirmed dead following an attack on Zike community, Kimakpa in the Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area.
According to Wakili Tongwe, a community leader from Kwall, the assailants stormed the village in the early hours of Monday, opening fire indiscriminately on residents who were jolted from sleep and tried to flee for safety.
Speaking to Channels Television via telephone, Tongwe revealed that a group of local vigilantes, including himself and some security personnel, had been on patrol in a nearby community when the attackers struck.
Though the security personnel engaged the invaders and succeeded in repelling the attackers, the damage had been done, with about thirty-six persons shot dead and four others dying later.
Some other residents sustained gunshot wounds and are receiving medical attention at the hospital.
Security agencies in the state are yet to comment on the attack, which is coming in less than two weeks after fifty-two persons were killed in some communities of the Bokkos Local Government Area of the North-Central state.
Plateau State has, for several decades, become a hotbed of killings, with gunmen sacking entire communities. Experts blame the fight for resources between farmers and herders as a major cause of the attacks..