Taraba: Two Killed, Houses Razed With Fire By Suspected Jukun Militia

Unknown gunmen suspected to be Jukun Militia had attacked their community and killed two people on Thursday night.

Reporting to newsmen on Friday, January 7, a resident of Ibua, a village along Wukari-Ibi Road in Ibi Local Government Area, reveals that the gunmen had stormed the village at about 7:00 pm on Thursday evening, killed no less than two persons, raze down several houses with fire and left some of the villagers in deep pain with wounds.

The witness whose name is given as Orhembaga Laregh, narrates to The PUNCH in a telephone interview that the gunmen invaded the village on Thursday evening and shot sporadically before setting their houses on fire.

Confirming the report, another eyewitness, Terngu Deior, said that he was sitting in front of his house when suddenly he saw armed men trooping into the village from Wukari axis.

He said, “I escaped through the back door and ran to the nearby police checkpoint but there was nobody to report to.”

Reacting to the report, Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP. David Misal, confirmed the incident to The PUNCH, noting that the gunmen suspected to be Jukun youths carried out the attack.

“Information available to us indicates that gunmen suspected to be Jukun youths attacked a Tiv village in Ibi LGA and killed two persons.

“Some thatch houses were also burnt in the attack believed to be the lingering crisis between the Jukun and the Tiv in the area.”

“The Divisional Police Officer of Ibi is leading a team of police officers on a manhunt of the attackers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Governor Darius Ishaku had during a peace meeting in Abuja convened by the Federal Government to end the crisis last September said the crisis was an internal affair of Taraba and pledged to end the crisis which has continued to persist.