- Five Hausa traders from Jos North were intercepted, shot, and killed by suspected militias in Plateau State.
- Survivors detail a chilling encounter where victims were dragged from their vehicle and slaughtered like rams.
- The attack occurred on the heels of a separate raid by armed bandits that claimed seven lives in a nearby community.
The fragile peace in Plateau State has been shattered once again following a gruesome attack in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, where five young traders were brutally murdered.
Eko Hot Blog reports that survivors of the incident, which took place along the Nding axis on Wednesday, have shared harrowing accounts of how suspected Berom militias intercepted their commercial vehicle, dragged the passengers out, and subjected them to a horrific end.
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The victims, all residents of the Gangare community in Jos North, were reportedly traveling to a market in Pankshin to conduct their routine business when they were ambushed.
Abdulazeez Ibrahim, one of the few who managed to escape the carnage, recounted the moment two armed men blocked their path.
According to his testimony, the assailants questioned the identity of the passengers.
While the driver, who reportedly spoke the attackers’ local language, attempted to de-escalate the situation by stating they were all the same, the response only fueled the gunmen’s rage.
The attackers allegedly declared that their own people were being killed elsewhere and immediately opened fire into the vehicle. Amidst the chaos, Ibrahim urged the driver to speed off, but by that time, several of his colleagues had already been pulled from the car.
The scale of the brutality was only discovered later when survivors returned to the scene accompanied by soldiers from the Special Task Force (STF).
Ibrahim described a devastating sight: the victims had not only been shot but had their throats slit and their bodies set ablaze.
He stated that they were slaughtered like rams and burned in a video detailing the recovery of the remains. The deceased have been identified as Uwaisu Jibrin, 24; Zakari; Shamsu; and Zubairu.
All were described as hardworking young men, including shoemakers and traders of soap and local seasonings, who left behind wives, children, and elderly parents.
This latest act of violence occurred just hours after a separate tragedy in the Ratatis community of Dorowa Babuje, where suspected armed Fulani bandits reportedly killed seven people.
The rapid succession of these attacks underscores the volatile cycle of reprisal violence that has haunted Plateau State for decades, often pitting ethnic and religious groups against one another.
The Gangare community has been thrown into mourning, with residents expressing deep outrage over the targeted killing of civilians who were simply striving to make a living amidst the country’s economic challenges.
As of Wednesday afternoon, security authorities had not issued an official statement regarding the arrests of the perpetrators or the measures being taken to prevent retaliatory attacks.
However, the recovery of the bodies by the STF suggests an ongoing military presence in the area.
The incident has heightened fears of a fresh wave of ethno-religious clashes in the state capital and its environs, as community leaders call for restraint and more proactive intelligence driven security operations to protect travelers on major highways.
