Five members of a family have been killed by unknown gunmen in Jos, Plateau State.
The assailants, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, shot the five
individuals on Sunday night in Kungte village, Kanadap, in the Kuru
District of Jos South Local Government Area of the state. One Peter
Dung, his wife and three children were identified as the victims.
According to reports,
the gunmen also killed another person whose identity is yet to be
determined. Plateau State Commissioner for Information and
Communication, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, who confirmed the killings, described
the incident as “inhuman and utter display of insensitivity to the
sanctity of lives.”
Spokesperson of the Plateau State Police Command, DSP Felicia Anselm,
also confirmed the incident. Anselm said the police had been working
round the clock to apprehend the killers. She said no suspect had been
arrested in connection with the incident, adding that the remains of the
victims had been deposited in the mortuary.
Reacting on behalf of the state government, Abraham, in a statement,
said, “The unprovoked killing of six members of two families in their
home in Kungte village, Kanadap (near Marraraban Jama’a) in Kuru
District of Jos South Local Government Area by gunmen on Sunday,
September, 1, 2013, is an evil and wicked act that should be condemned
by all members of society.
“The killing is also a display of cowardice by the perpetrators who
under the cover of darkness deliberately chose to visit violence on
vulnerable members of society, women and children, to achieve clearly
devilish designs.
“Such an attack, coming at a time when the state has been mostly
peaceful for quite some time appears a desperate attempt to reverse the
gains of our hard-earned efforts in breaking down the barriers of ethnic
and religious intolerance and thereby rebuilding the bridges of
communal consensus.
“Such intentions will fail because Plateau people have made up their
minds to live in peace with one another and, together with the state
government and security agencies, they will frustrate every attempt
aimed at taking the state back to the days of bloodshed and gloom. The
current level of peace in the state is for consolidation, not
evaporation”
The Sunday killing occurred less than a fortnight after 10 people
were killed in similar fashion in Foron district of Barkin Ladi thus
raising fears of resurgence of killings in Plateau after months of
peace.
The Kungte murder also came barely 24 hours after the redeployment of
the Commander of the Special Task Force, Maj. Gen. Henry Ayoola.
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