Gunmen Kill Two in Plateau

Governor Jona Jang

Two persons were in the early hours of yesterday  killed in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State by gunmen suspected to be Fulani.

There were however uncertainties surrounding their killers: while some accounts said the deceased, who were of Tarok tribe, were killed by Fulani men as a retaliation for the nine of their kinsmen killed in the area in January, a Fulani source said the deceased were killed by their fellow Tarok men over a misunderstanding that followed Tarok Day celebration.

Abdullahi Abubakar, the Wase Local Government Area Assistant Secretary of  Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), told newsmen that, "the two Tarok men, we suspect, were killed by their own people following a  misunderstanding that ensued during a recent Tarok Day celebration.

The Fulani source said the killing of the two occurred behind Wase Rock as  they were returning from Langtang to Kadarko after the Tarok Day celebration.

The Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis, who confirmed the killings, added that  the two were shot on top of a motorcycle along Wase-Kadarko Road.

The spokesman of the Task Force, Captain Salisu Mustapha, told journalists that the gunmen possibly laid ambush for the victims, shot them, and escaped into the nearby bush.

"The deceased were travelling on a motorcycle on the Wase-Kagarko Road  when they were shot at and killed," he said.
He however refused to identify the dead and the killers as Fulani or Tarok. But he said that two suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident,  adding that investigations were ongoing.