A fresh wave of bloodshed rocked Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State on Sunday, as armed bandits reportedly ambushed vigilante operatives in the area, killing at least 10 of them.

Naijaonpoint learnt that in the Kukawa community, residents have buried more than 60 victims following a separate but related outbreak of violence.

A resident of Bunyun in Nyalun Ward, Bashar District, Musa Ibrahim, confirmed the attacks to Daily Trust, saying many houses were also razed during the deadly invasion.

According to Ibrahim, the vigilantes drawn from Plateau and Taraba States had mobilised to counter the frequent attacks plaguing their communities.

He said the vigilantes advanced into the forest early Sunday morning in an attempt to confront the bandits, but were met with lethal resistance.

The chairman of the vigilante group, Baffa, said, “Around 1:30 am, while I was sleeping, I started hearing gunshots and began to ask myself what was happening. People started saying armed robbers had attacked the community, and when I went out, I later found out they were vigilantes who had come from Dogon Ruwan Safiyo, en route to fight bandits in their hideouts, because we have hundreds of bandits hiding in the forest close to the community.

“But to our surprise, the vigilantes started beating innocent residents of the community. They vandalized shops and looted phones. They also entered people’s homes and seized over 150 phones. They seized almost 30 motorcycles from the residents, claiming they would ride them to the forest. They were even accusing us of hiding the bandits in the villages. We told them that we were not hiding criminals, that the criminals were in the forest, and they should follow them to the area.

“They, then headed to the forest, but 20 minutes later, we started hearing gunshots from that direction, suggesting a clash between them. A moment later, we started seeing some of the vigilantes withdrawing, saying they were overwhelmed by the bandits. So, this morning, we reported to the DPO and other security forces in the area.”

Speaking to Daily Trust on the incident, a youth leader in Wase, Shapi’i Sambo, said, “The incident happened yesterday (Sunday), and many of the vigilantes were killed.

“We are gathering information from some communities to know the number of those killed in the incident. But a lot of the vigilantes were killed. Maybe by tomorrow, we will be able to know the real casualty figures.”