A group of armed men have killed 12 people during an attack on Kunben village in Kombun District of Mangu Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Plateau, Mathias Tyopev, confirmed the incident in an interview with Journalists on Thursday.

He explained that the attack which took place on Wednesday night also left some villagers with various degrees of injury but were receiving treatment at the General Hospital in Mangu.

The command’s spokesperson added that the police have deployed security personnel in the area to forestall any breakdown of law and order, while investigation into the attack was ongoing.

In his reaction, the state governor, Simon Lalong, condemned the attack which he said was unacceptable.

The governor cancelled a planned tour of road project sites to visit the village to commiserate with the people, in the company of the deputy governor and security chiefs in the state.

During the visit, he urged the people not to retaliate but leave the security agencies to handle the case.

Governor Lalong also assured the residents of the village that the security agencies were working hard to apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice.

Mangu LGA has been grappling with security challenges since the last quarter of 2019, recording the death of a district head in another community.

Stop Further Attacks

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the killings and asked the security agencies to stop further attacks.

According to his media aide, Mr Garba Shehu, the President is in contact with the governor and the security agencies.

The presidential spokesman noted that the President’s action was aimed at finding ways to prevent a reoccurrence of such incident.

He said, “President Muhammadu Buhari strongly condemns the gunmen attack on Mangu Local Government in Plateau State and is in contact with the Governor, Simon Lalong and the military, police and other security agencies in the state to ascertain details of what happened and what can be done to forestall a future occurrence.

“President Buhari said he is shocked and grieved by the incident and has urged security agencies in the state to increase vigilance to stop further attacks on innocent communities.”