Gunmen disobeyed the 24-hour curfew that the Plateau State government had put on the Mangu Local Government Area on Tuesday, resulting in over 30 fatalities and the destruction of multiple houses in Kwahaslalek and the surrounding settlements yesterday.
Remember how Governor Caleb Mutfwang issued a 24-hour curfew in Mangu in response to the worsening security conditions in the region? He emphasized that only those who were required to move within the local government were permitted to do so until further notice.
Gunmen, however, broke through the curfew and into Kwahaslalek and its surroundings, killing over thirty people and demolishing several homes and places of worship.
As of the time of this report, the Sabon Layi region was the worst hit, with homes, places of worship, and commercial buildings being destroyed. Locals said that soldiers were complicit in the slaughter.
At the time of this report, Hosea Ibrahim, a survivor, said that the fight in Mangu town was a pretext for the attack on the Kwahaslalek Community, which is located close to the permanent orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at Jakarta, Mangu LGA, despite the lack of official confirmation.
According to him: “What happened at Sabon Gari and Mangu, on Tuesday, was just a distraction, so that people’s attention will be shifted away from the villages. For the second time, my village, Kwahaslalek (behind the NYSC camp), was attacked at about 12.30 am, leaving over 30 people, mostly women and children, dead, as houses were burnt and some persons left with gunshot wounds.
“At about midnight there was sporadic gunshots and women ran to one compound for safety. Unfortunately, the terrorists went there and killed them, while the men were keeping vigil outside the community. The victims were killed at a community leader’s house, where they ran for refuge. The Mariana, Kinat, and other communities in Mangu Halle District and those on the borders of Mangu and Barkin Ladi Local government areas are deserted now.”
