There has been tension in the various local government areas of Plateau State as the death toll from bandit attacks hit 160, News About Nigeria reports.
The local government officials disclosed this on Monday, stating that the number of lost lives has risen from the initial figure reported on Sunday.
The deaths, they said, were from a series of attacks on villages, with 16 additional people killed recently in a region plagued for several years by religious and ethnic tensions.
Monday Kassah, the head of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, disclosed that as many as 113 people have been confirmed dead as Saturday’s hostilities persisted to the early hours of Monday.
He noted that the bandits had launched what he described as well-coordinated attacks in not fewer than 20 different communities, adding that the bandits did not stop there but went ahead to torch houses in the communities.”
We found more than 300 wounded people who were transferred to hospitals in Bokkos, Jos and Barkin Ladi,” he said.
The Plateau State government condemned the violence that has persisted in the state on Sunday, describing it as a barbaric, brutal, and unjustified act.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang, who spoke through his spokesperson, Gyang Bere, assured residents of the state that proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians and called for calm in the state.
Also speaking on the situation in the state, a member of the state parliament, Dickson Chollom, noted that at least 50 people were also reported dead in several villages in the Barkin Ladi area.
