The 48-hour siege which was laid in several villages in Gashish district has left behind a trail of blood, and despair – as 35 people were confirmed to have been gruesomely murdered in the onslaught.

Villages said to be most affected include Gindin Akwati (ex-land), Soi, Razat and Shonong. Gindin Akwati suffered the highest amount of casualties as up to 20 were said to have been hacked down. In Soi and Razat, the entire houses in the villages were razed down with several people killed and many yet to be accounted for.

Shonong village suffered the least casualties as only the fringe parts of the village was attacked at 2:00 am this morning -again 3 people were said to have been killed.

At the time of filing this report, Dalyop Choji (the Berom Youth Moulders president) who spoke to ViewPointNigeria confirmed that the corpse from many of the villages were yet to be retrieved because ambushes were still laid in most of the community roads and any individual who attempts to go from village to village is killed. He said, “because we are yet to retrieve the corpse, there is a chance that the death toll could be significantly higher than the 35 which now been confirmed”.

Asked if the STF have responded, he said “all the soldiers stationed in the area ran away because of the fire-power of the herdsmen. They fled once the realised the sheer number and fire-power that was approaching them”.

Also speaking, he said they reached out to the STF commander in Plateau, but they have been told that he is out office and that his second in command has yet to respond to calls.

count | 600

Plateau Killings: Death toll rises to 35 in 48-hour onslaught