Many people are feared dead and several others injured after gunmen stormed a mass burial in Nding Fan District, located within Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
According to Vanguard, the mourners had gathered to bury seven victims of an earlier attack on the community when the assailants struck.
Sources said the attack occurred on Wednesday afternoon as residents assembled for the burial rites.
The gunmen, who were reportedly monitoring the gathering from nearby hills, suddenly advanced and opened fire on the crowd while graves were being dug.
An eyewitness, journalist Masara Kim, told our correspondent via telephone that no fewer than five communities were under coordinated attacks at the same time.
He said the mourners had barely started digging when the attackers descended, forcing them to hastily bury the bodies and flee.
He said, “There is an ongoing, massive attack on communities south of Jos. More than five communities are under simultaneous assault. While we were at the burial site, the attackers emerged from the hills and began shooting.”
Kim added that a man was killed before his eyes and noted that local defenders, equipped with hunting rifles and makeshift weapons, were overpowered.
He said he narrowly escaped the scene, stressing that many residents fled as the attackers advanced, while the death toll remains unclear due to the confusion.
Reacting, the publicity secretary of the Berom Youth Moulders Association, Rwang Tengwong, described the situation as “terrible”, adding that efforts were ongoing to rescue those trapped in the affected communities.
