Gunmen have attacked Shonong village in Riyom local
government area of Plateau state, burning about 250
houses in the community.
According to residents of the village who spoke with The
Punch, the gunmen numbered at least 500 and attacked the
village at around 9pm on Thursday night as the villagers
were preparing to go to bed.
Isaac Kahwun, a community resident told how the gunmen
came to attack villagers without warning. He said the
attackers shot sporadically to announce their arrival.
The community member said a distress call was sent to
the special task force in charge of the village, and the
security agent told villagers to run to safer places as they
were not well stocked with firearms and ammunition to
engage the gunmen in battle.
He said, “As a result of this, all the villagers left their
houses and took refuge in neighbouring villages. In the
middle of the night, the gunmen returned and set all the
houses ablaze.
“Some house where relief materials were kept for onward
distribution to victims of the earlier attacks were also
looted by the attackers while they set the remaining ones
ablaze.
“Over 1,000 residents who fled their homes are now sleeping
in primary schools in neighbouring villages.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of Riyom local government area,
Josephine Piyo who had intended to visit the village to see
the aftermath of the attacks, was advised by the task force
to return as they could not guarantee her safety in the
village.
Piyo, on hearing she could not get into the village,
expressed her anger over what she described as persistent
attacks on the area by gunmen.
She said, “In the past two months, over 10 villages in my
local government have been attacked and many people
killed, yet security personnel are here watching without
doing anything to defend the people or arrest the gunmen.”
Recently another local government area in Plateau
state, Barkin Ladi, was terrorized by gunmen who attacked
Christian villages with guns and then burned down homes
and churches.
The attackers killed about 70 Christians, including one
pastor.