Another calamity has befallen the Bokkos local government area of Plateau state as no fewer than 19 persons were reportedly killed and several others injured following an attack on Kawel village in Mushere District of Bokkos.
Kawai is a small community on the tarred road, , just 10 kilometres to Mushere from Bokkos town, the home of former Governor Joshua Dariye.
The latest incident came less than a week after the District Head of Gwande in the same local government area, Saf Samuel Alaket, who was killed,
The incident, according to witness account, happened at about 11:40 p.m on Sunday while people in the community were fast asleep.
Youth Leader of Bokkos, Christopher Luka who confirmed the incident, said that the attack took the entire community unawares.
According to him, information about the attack reached local youth leaders shortly after midnight.
“A youth leader called around 12 a.m. and reported that gunmen attacked the community and shot several persons. So far, 19 deaths have been confirmed,” he said.
Luka explained that immediately after receiving the information, he alerted security personnel stationed in Bokkos.
“I contacted security personnel and they confirmed they had received information about the incident and were moving to the affected community,” he added.
Luka described the attack as unprovoked and called on security agencies to intensify efforts to prevent further violence and improve protection for vulnerable communities.
A resident of the community, Malo Bitrus told newsmen that the gunmen stormed the village in that late hours of the day, shooting sporadically and causing residents to flee to different directions for safety.
Another resident, Polycarp, described the incident as disheartening, saying that attack in Bokkos community had become a daily affair.
He said, ” There’s no day we don’t wake up with news of one attack or the other. It’s just that many of them were not reported.”
Efforts to get confirmation from the spokesperson of the Plateau State Police Command, SP Alfred Alabo, were fruitless. He could not pick his phone despite repeated calls
