Assailants kill 40 in fresh Plateau attack

At least 40 persons have been reportedly killed in another early Monday morning attack on Zike community, Kimakpa, in the Kwali district of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

According to media reports, gunmen attacked the community in the early hours of Monday and started shooting sporadically at residents.

Reports say some local vigilantes who were on patrol in another community when the assailants attacked Zike community immediately went there and engaged the attackers.

Though they were eventually able to repel the attacks, 36 persons had already been killed, while another four died later.

Meanwhile, security agencies have yet to confirm the attack.

The latest attack is coming less than two weeks after 52 persons were killed in some communities of the Bokkos Local Government Area of the North-Central state.

The killings in Plateau State are no longer isolated incidents. They have become a recurring nightmare that demands urgent and decisive national action.

Time and again, communities in Plateau, a state once renown for its temperate climate and tourism potential, have found themselves under siege, with lives lost, properties destroyed, and trust in governance dangerously eroded.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has directed security agencies to fish out the masterminds of the cycle of killings in Plateau State.

The president, who reaffirmed his government’s strong determination to stamp out violent crimes and all forms of criminality across the country, said the perpetrators would feel the wrath of the law.

Immediately after the attack on Bokkos about two weeks ago, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) protested the continuous killings in Plateau State and other parts of the country.