Plateau Massacre: Gunmen in Military Uniform Kill 10, Including Small Children

22 February, 2013

No fewer than 10 people, believed to be members of a family, were Thursday night killed by gunmen in Kogom Village of Vwang District, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State. Half the victims were under the age of six, the military and an official said Friday.
A survivor of the incident, Habila Musa, said that the attackers were dressed in military uniforms, a claim that has been raised in previous killings.
"The attackers were putting on army uniforms, some were with military helmet," he said.
Mr. Habila says residents of the area made repeated phone calls to the recently introduced emergency mobile phone numbers released by the Special Task Force (STF) in Plateau. He said the operation lasted for about an hour, but no one came to their aide.
"No one came to rescue us," he said.
Members of the victims' families also condemned the killings saying most of the victims were mourners who came to condole with a family who lost their grandmother some days back. They said most of the victims died from gunshot wounds sustained during the attack.
"They invaded our area at about 9:00 p.m. last night, heavily armed and opened fire on the mourners," one of the wailing family members said.
Reacting on the killings, the Special Adviser to Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau on Media and Publicity, Ayuba Pam, who hails from the area, described the incident as "barbaric". He stressed that the government will not rest in the search for lasting peace in the state, until attacks on citizens are brought to a halt.
"At about 8 p.m., I received a call from the state security outfit informing that there was an attacked in a Kogom Village that four people were killed. Later, another figure came in that 10 people were killed including children, and that was what happened. Five little children, including a two-month-old child, were slaughtered."
Ayuba said he visited the family's compound after the attack and spoke to several witnesses who described the massacre as being carried out by Muslim Fulani herdsmen armed with guns and machetes.
Several eyewitnesses said the assailants were dressed as soldiers, according to Ayuba.

On his part, the head of Vwang District, Choji Balack, while sympathizing with families of the deceased condemned the attack. He blamed the attack on men of the STF in the state and demanded their withdrawal from Plateau. Mr. Balack claimed that the Fulani could not "carry out such shooting".

The STF is an inter-agency force composed of soldiers, police officers, and State Security Service officials; it was set up by the Federal Government to maintain peace in Plateau but as been accused of also contributing to the violence and killings.
The military spokesman in Plateau, Lt. Kingsley Amos, provided the same details, but assured that no soldiers were involved in the attack: "Somehow, some hoodlums and criminals gained access to our old uniforms…but I can assure that none of our people were involved."
Members of the mostly Christian Berom ethnic group, who consider themselves the state's indigenes, have previously accused the military of perpetrating violence on behalf of the Fulani.
Plateau lies on Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, where the mainly Christian south meets the predominately Muslim north in Africa's most populous country and top oil producer.
Berom leaders have accused the Fulani of trying to appropriate wide swathes of land from what they claim are the state's original settlers.
Fulani leaders as well as Hausas, who are also mostly Muslim, counter that the state's primarily Christian political leaders have deprived them of basic rights.