Gunmen have killed four youths and injured five others in an attack on a mining site in Butura, Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State. The incident occurred around 9 p.m. on Friday night.
According to local reports, the victims were working at the mining site when the assailants opened fire, killing four people on the spot. Sabastine Magit, President of the Butura Youth Movement, confirmed the attack in a statement released on Saturday.
Magit stated, “In yet another unprovoked assault on members of the Butura community, armed terrorists, speaking the Fulani dialect, opened fire on innocent youths working at a mining site near the villages of Kuba and Maikatako in the Butura district of Bokkos Local Government Area in Plateau State on October 10. The attack occurred at approximately 9 p.m. without provocation, leading to the death of four innocent people and injuries to five others.”
The victims, identified as Bwefuk Musa (21), Klingshak Dickson (21), Promise Joshua (20), and Nyam Abaka (20), were all young men from the community.
Magit further noted that this was the latest in a string of violent incidents in the area, with over 20 members of the Butura community killed in the past month, allegedly by Fulani assailants. He added that the gunmen fled the scene before security forces stationed nearby could intervene.
“This tragic attack came just days after another incident in the village of Wumat, where five members of a family, including a pregnant woman, were killed,” Magit said.
Efforts to get comments from the Plateau State Police Command’s spokesperson, Alabo Alfred, and Major Samson Zhakom of the Military Taskforce were unsuccessful, as calls to their phones went unanswered. Similarly, the state Commissioner for Information, Musa Ashoms, was unavailable for immediate comment.
