by Lucas Togan

 

It is believed that the death toll from last week’s attack on communities in Langtang South Local Government of Plateau State has risen to 70, and this is in addition to the over 7,000 that have been displaced.

Hon. Beni Lar, Member representing Langtang North/South Constituency in the House of Representatives, who confirmed this during a visit to the affected parts, said several people were still missing.

She said, “From what I gathered, the Divisional Crime Officer is still missing, seven thousand people were displaced, while almost 70 lost their lives.

“The intention of the attackers was to wipe out the entire inhabitants of the villages for no just reason.”

Similarly, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Olakpe, confirmed that the District Crime Officer, DCO, for the area was still missing and that 20 more corpses had been recovered.

Beni described the attack as barbaric, noting that they were able to carry out the attack because of the vulnerability of the villages, while addressing displaced persons in different camps at Mabudi, headquarters of the local government. She also addded that security men were unable to gain access to the area because of the bad roads and appealed to government to attend to them to open up the locality.

The police commissioner, Olakpe, said: “From the report I got from my men, 20 additional bodies have been recovered and the DCO is still missing.

“But we have not concluded that anything has happened to him. We are still looking for him and hoping that he will be found.”