Gunmen kill 29 displaced persons in attack on camp

Gunmen yesterday stormed an Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camp in Nkiedonwhro village, Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau State, killing 29 inmates.

The victims were among the over 100 villagers taking refuge at the camp, a primary school.

Eyewitnesses said the gunmen defied the curfew imposed on the area, sneaked into the camp at dawn and opened fire on the innocent victims, who were asleep.
Twenty-seven died immediately; two died later in hospital.

The displaced persons’ homes had been razed in the series of attacks in the locality, a situation that forced them to take refuge at the public school.

President Muhammadu Buhari last night ordered security agents to stop the killings.

The killings in Bassa Local Government began on September 7, about 20 persons were murdered. Several other attacks followed as the gunmen attack each village every night. Governor Simon Lalong imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the local government last weekend.

The victims felt secured to stay at the primary school for the fact that troops deployed in the local government to stop the killings were also camped at the school where the 29 were killed.

The government and people of the state were in confusion over how people displaced from their homes and left in the custody of armed security agencies could be killed so easily.

A federal lawmaker from Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency, Hon. Suleiman Kwande, called on the Federal Government to investigate the killings.

Kwande, who issued a statement, said the killings should be singled out for investigation, considering the way it happened.

“I call on the Federal Government to set up a committee to investigate the fresh killing of innocent persons, including children, women, men and aged in a primary school where they were taking refuge,” Kwande said, adding:

“Enough is enough of the killing in Maingo, Bassa Local Government Area and the entire Plateau State. Security agencies must wake up to their constitutional responsibility of protecting lives in the state. This evil must be stop. Enough of all the killings.”

The lawmaker called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide relief materials for the community and the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the state Ministry of Health to move to treat the victims.

Besides, Kwande called for the arrest and prosecution of all those behind the heinous crime.