At least 70 members of a vigilante group were on Monday, killed after bandits ambushed them at the Kukawa and Bunyun communities of Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Chairman of the vigilante group in Kukawa, Aliyu Baffa, who confirmed the incident, said the surprise attack on his team happened when a combined team of vigilantes from different formations in Wase LGA were on their way to identify bandits’ hideouts.
Narrating how the attack occurred, Baffa said the team ran into an ambush set up by the bandits who were armed with sophisticated weapons and opened fire on the team, killing over 70 of them on the spot.
The vigilante Chairman added that by the evening of the day, they had conducted a mass burial for the deceased but feared there could still be more dead bodies in the bushes as quite a number of his members are still missing and unaccounted for.
“The clash occurred just a kilometre away from the main Kukawa town, when the bandits ambushed the vigilante team as they were heading to a bandits hideout located in the government reserve forest popularly known as Madam Forest which shares border with Bauchi and Taraba states,” Baffa said.
“We have buried more than 70 in Kukawa alone but it is likely that more bodies could be recovered from either side. Our men were overwhelmed by the bandits who carried superior weapons,” he added.
Musa Ibrahim, a resident of Bunyun, Nyalun ward, Bashar district, Wase Local Government Area, said the bandits attacked the community and killed 10 vigilantes, who were providing security in the area.
He said the attackers also burnt many houses in the community.
He added that vigilantes from different communities, including those from Plateau and Taraba states, had been invited and camped in various areas within Wase, following incessant attacks by the bandits.
He said on Sunday morning, the vigilantes moved into the forest to engage the bandits.
“In our community, 10 vigilantes were killed–five from Plateau and five from Taraba. They were buried this morning”, Ibrahim said.
Residents of Kukawa community alleged that the vigilantes who were on their way to the forest attacked their community and looted their belongings.
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’’,Baffa said.
Speaking to Daily Trust on the incident, Shapi’i Sambo, a youth leader in Wase, 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.”
Police, Operation Safe Haven silent
When efforts were made to get reaction to the incident, the spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Alabo Alfred, did not pick several calls put across to him. He, also, did not reply to a text message sent to his mobile telephone line by our correspondent.
The spokesperson of Operation Safe Haven, Major Samson Zhakom, acknowledged receipt of an inquiry by our correspondent, but did not make any comment on the incident.