No fewer than 21 corpses have been given mass burial at Abbare, Lau Local Government, Taraba state, North Central Nigeria.The deceased were gruesomely killed by suspected Fulani militia in the recent attacks in five Lago communities.
Correspondent Owolabi Adenusi reports that residents of Donaddo, Lavoro, Katibu, Didango and Maku communities in Taraba State are grieving and counting their losses after their communities were sacked by suspected fulani militia.
During the coordinated attacks that lasted two days, houses were razed and about 35 people are still missing.
Some relatives of the victims who spoke with our correspondent narrated their ordeals, lamenting that security agents could not be mobilised to their area during the two days the Fulani militia laid siege on their communities.
They denied that the attacks had anything to do with the crisis between Bachama and Fulani but insisted that they were attacked without provocation. They have since vacated their ancestral homes for fear of further attacks.
Some of them relocated to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in the state capital. When TVC News visited the IDP camps in Jalingo, the victims said their ancestral homes have become unsafe for habitation since Fulani herdsmen still lurk around. They called on the federal government to come to their aid.
The Taraba State Police Command has urged residents of the affected communities to return home, assuring them of protection.
Image maker of the command said more policemen had been deployed to the troubled communities to safeguard them against attacks. He confirmed that the attacks lasted two days, but fell short of giving the actual number of the dead.
He disagreed with the notion that the Fulani herdsmen carried out the heinous crime, maintaining that unidentified gunmen attacked the communities.
Events watchers faulted security agents’ inability to take preventive measures against recent attacks in the state, as they recalled that Governor Darius Ishaku had earlier raised the alarm of impending attack by herdsmen in some communities in the state.
