The Plateau State government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Mangu local government area as a result of attacks in Fungzai and Kubwat communities by suspected Fulani militia bandits on Tuesday night.
In a statement on Wednesday signed by the Chairman of the council, Minister Daput, the curfew order was agreed on after consultations with security heads as means of restoring law and order in the affected communities as well as avoid the situation from getting out of hand considering the numbers of casualty involved in the attack.
The dust of the attacks on the two communities is still yet to settle as no fewer than 37 persons, mostly women and children, have been reportedly killed so far, while the death toll may rise as scores of people are still missing.
A community leader in the Fungzai village, Dan Mangu, who spoke to journalists, said:
“We received a distress call that herders have invaded two villages of Kubwat and Fungzai and massacre many people and burnt down their villages.
“We are yet to ascertain the number of deaths. As I speak, I can see herders moving their cows as fast as possible from the attacked village towards Bauchi side.
“We are yet to ascertain the number of deaths, but, reports have it that they have burnt down the entire village and about five corpses have been brought Mangu.
“While others have not been ascertained because I’m still gathering reports and whatever happened I promised to give the details later.”