Dozens of people died yesterday when villages in Gashish District of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State were attacked by gunmen whose identities were yet to be clearly ascertained at the time of filing this report last night.

Bloody attacks of this nature have been common in Barkin Ladi and Riyom local government areas of Plateau State in recent times, and the Berom and Fulani people who co-inhabit the areas have always traded blames when such attacks have occurred.

Nine villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas of Plateau state were attacked early yesterday morning by suspected Fulani herdsmen. Our correspondent gathered that over 20 people killed and several houses destroyed in the mayhem.

Sunday Trust learnt that suspected Fulani herdsmen stormed the Berom villages of Kakuruk, Kuzen, Ngyo, Kogoduk, Ruk, Dogo, Kufang, Kpapkpiduk, and Kai in Gashishi district of Barkin Ladi local government area in a commando style, dressed in black attire with bullet proof vests and sophisticated weapons. Two security agents also met their untimely deaths in the early morning raid.

After invading the villages, Sunday Trust learnt, the attackers proceeded to nearby villages in Riyom local government area where they destroyed properties and set houses ablaze.

Tension started escalating on Tuesday when Fulani accused the security men of destroying their houses and dispersing them from the area. But, things got to a head last Friday after the Berom community blamed the Fulani of destroying their farms and staged a peaceful demonstration. However, a full scale violence erupted in the early hours of yesterday after the Fulani laid blame on the Berom community of violently assaulting them.

An official of the Stefanos Foundation, Engr. Mark Lipdo, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service that it was the Fulani who launched the first attack, but the Secretary of Miyetti Allah in Plateau State, Muhammad Nura Abdullahi, debunked the allegation, saying it was the Berom who were the aggressors.

In the attacks of yesterday morning, the villages of Kakuruk, Kuzen Ngyo, Kogoduk, Ruk, and Dogo were said to have come under gunfire by the attackers said to be dressed in bullet-proof vests and military camouflage.

While most sources said they could not yet give the number of those who died, the Special Task Force (STF) told Sunday Trust last night that 37 people died, among them 14 villagers killed by the attackers, 21 of the attackers killed by members of the STF, and two of the STF members killed by the attackers.

But spokesman of the STF, Captain Salisu Mustapha, who gave the casualty figures, said STF members only did their duty by going to the scenes of the fracas to reduce the effects of the attacks and restore order to the troubled villages.

He admitted, however, that some of the attackers wore military camouflage and bullet-proof vests, but added that what the attackers wore did not prove who they were and that the STF had not established the ethnicity of the attackers.

How do the so called "fulani herdsmen" get hold of bullet proof vests?
This Nigeria is a wonder wonder land.

ifyalways: How do the so called "fulani herdsmen" get hold of bullet proof vests?
This Nigeria is a wonder wonder land.

ROFLMAO!!!

With that simultaneous and well coordinated attacks, can we rule out the use of mercenaries like ex-soldiers and police ?