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Gunmen in army uniform kill 10 in Plateau

Gunmen opened fire on an outdoor bar in a village in Plateau State, killing 10 people and wounding several others, the military and witnesses said … Continue reading Gunmen in army uniform kill 10 in Plateau


Gunmen opened fire on an outdoor bar in a village in Plateau State, killing 10 people and wounding several others, the military and witnesses said on Tuesday.

The attack happened in the remote village of Heipang late on Monday, a military spokesperson for Plateau state, Captain Salisu Ibrahim Mustapha said.

“The gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on customers and killing eight on the spot while two others died later as a result of the gunshot wounds they sustained,” he said.

Both the Barkin Ladi local government Management Committee Chairman, Emmanuel Loman and the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Abuh confirmed to Channels Television that eight of the victims died on the spot while two others died in the hospital.

Several witnesses said the assailants were wearing army uniforms and came in a type of van often used by the military.

Mark Lipdo, head of a local Christian non-governmental organisation called the Stefanus Foundation based in Plateau state, said he was in the bar when the attack took place and saw men in military uniforms approach it before opening fire.

Another witness, ThankGod Sule, said: “We saw soldiers in their Hilux Van and they started shooting … I was lucky to have escaped the attack because I was there also drinking when they came, but I was a bit out the way.”

Mustapha rejected this account as “a lie and mischievous”.

“How can we do something like that by taking arms against people we are to protect? It is against logical reasoning,” he said. “The incident took place in the night where there was no light and the attackers operated for about two minutes. How can somebody identify who carried out the attack?”

The Chairman of Barkin Ladi Local government area, Emmanuel Loman, where the village of Heipang lies, called on the military to investigate reports the attack happened with the “complicity and connivance” of the army.