PLATEAU MOURNS: OVER 100 KILLED IN TWO-WEEK TERROR CAMPAIGN, SURVIVORS SHARE HORROR
More than 100 people have been killed in a string of terrorist attacks across Plateau State, primarily in Bokkos and Bassa Local Government Areas. Survivors are now recounting chilling stories of the violence that has rocked Hurti, Manguna, Daffo, and Tiapi.
Pastor James Musa Mareen of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) shared his near-death experience. Ambushed while en route to a church program, he was beaten, hacked with machetes, and thrown into a snake-infested well with his limbs chained. Miraculously, he survived, rescued hours later by villagers who heard his cries.
Another resident, Peter Danlami, lost four family members when gunmen stormed his brother’s home. “They shot him and his family, then butchered them to ensure they were dead,” he said. His brother’s wife lost an arm and remains hospitalized.
The attacks have left communities shattered, with mass displacements and survivors battling trauma. The resurgence of such violence raises urgent questions about the security architecture in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and the federal government’s ability to protect rural populations from terrorist incursions.
