Gunmen on Thursday killed five persons and razed several homes in Kiri Village, Attakar Chiefdom of Laura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Also on Thursday, at least eight people were confirmed dead and five others missing after a fresh attack on Atakar community, Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.

Attakar Chiefdom is in Southern Kaduna.

A spokesman for the police in Kaduna State, DSP Yakubu Sabo, confirmed the incident on Friday.

The attack is coming after the several months of relative peace Southern Kaduna.

Sabo said they had launched an investigation into the attack.

Sabo said, “Some hoodlums came to the village on Thursday shooting indiscriminately. One man named Daniel was hit.

“Following a distress call, the area commander of Kafanchan rushed to the scene and chased the hoodlums who ran into the hill bordering Kaura and Ryom LGA.

“And this morning while our men were combing the area they discovered four corpses, and the 35- year-old Daniel, who was injured during the attack, later died, making five people who were killed.

“We have taken over the situation as everywhere in the village is calm and we are patrolling the area.”

Sunday Bulus, who witnessed the incident, told one of our correspondents that the gunmen invaded the village at about 4pm, shooting at the villagers.

According to him, the hoodlums shot dead five persons and injured others. He said two villagers had yet to be found.

Bulus said the new police post in the village was among the buildings razed by the gangsters.

One of our correspondents learnt on Friday that the victims of the Plateau attack were mostly farmers.

It was learnt that the hoodlums who attacked Atakar community killed six people on Thursday while two others who sustained gunshot wounds died on Friday.

A community leader, Musa Gabriel, who escaped being killed by the hoodlums, said the gunmen swooped on the farmers around 3.30pm and killed four on the spot, while others fled in different directions.

Gabriel said, “We were harvesting groundnuts on our farm when we suddenly noticed that we had been surrounded by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen. They fired gunshots and killed four on the spot while the rest of us escaped.

“They trailed us to our camp because many of us had just returned to the community after we were displaced two years ago. Two people were also killed in the camp while many of us sustained bullet wounds. The five people missing are yet to be found.”

He said government forces could not respond immediately because they could not access the community due to the deplorable road.

A spokesman for the police in the state, DSP Mathias Tyopev, said he had yet to be briefed about the incident.

However, a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly representing Riyom Constituency, Timothy Dantong, confirmed the incident.

He called on the security agencies to come to the rescue of the natives and ensure that they were not chased away from their ancestral home for the second time by hoodlums.

Rip to the dead.
May God console the family