Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen have killed 12 people in an attack on Kuru community in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.
No fewer than five other locals were injured during the incident, eyewitnesses told our correspondent on Monday morning during a visit to the scene of the attack.
They narrated that the assailants stormed the community at about 9pm on Sunday and began to fire sporadic gunshots.
Residents noted that thereafter, the gunmen went to some houses where they shot at the occupants, leading to the death of some with others injured.
They said following the attack, the injured victims were taken to a primary healthcare facility within the community for medical attention.
Police authorities in Plateau have confirmed the incident, but they gave a lesser number of those killed by the gunmen.
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According to the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Gabriel Ubah, noted that the command received a report that 10 persons were shot dead.
He explained that the persons were killed at a drinking joint in Sabon Layi in Kuru by yet-to-be-identified gunmen who drove in a Hilux van and shot sporadically.
“Personnel of the command and the military have been deployed to the affected area.
“The Commissioner of Police has ordered an immediate investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killing and to bring the perpetrators of that dastardly act to book,” Ubah said in a text to Channels Television on Monday.
Mr Musa Bagos, the lawmaker representing Jos South/ Jos East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, was among those who visited the community where residents narrated their ordeal in the unprovoked attack.
He condemned the heinous crime which he described as an attack too many, stressing the need to stop the trend to prevent the further killings of innocent people in villages in the state.
The Management Committee Chairman of Jos South LGA, Gideon Davou, who was also at the scene, appealed to the residents to allow the security agencies to carry out a proper investigation into the incident.
He also urged members of the community to remain calm and not resort to reprisals with an assurance that the state government would ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous crime were apprehended.
