Gunmen kill 50 in fresh attack in Taraba

Unknown gunmen yesterday struck residents of Gidan Aku community on the outskirts Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State killing no fewer than 50 people with many seriously injured.

According to reports, the men who stormed the area with sophisticated weapons allegedly came in from Nassarawa state and attacked the residents while they were sleeping. They set the whole place on fire forcing residents to flee into nearby bushes for safety.

An eyewitness and also a lawyer in the community, Luka Agbu said no security officer came to their rescue during the attack

"The attackers were very hostile to us and did not spare even children or the aged. The attackers shot at people and burnt houses at the same time without any intervention by the security forces. We are helpless here and we plead with the Federal Government to deploy special troops to rescue us from this unfortunate and deadly attacks. Our people are being killed by gunmen, we are losing property on a daily basis. What kind of a country is this?” Agbu said

Meanwhile the state Governor, Umar Garba while interacting with journalist yesterday in his office in Taraba State said he has ordered 50 more policemen to the troubled zone to help the residents.

“We have deployed 50 soldiers from Yola to add to the troops on the ground who were deployed from Serti and Takum and with a reasonable number of policemen on the ground, we hope the situation would improve" he said

He also ordered the reopening of the General Hospital in the Local Government which was before now shut down due to the Dusk to Dawn curfew imposed in the area. He also announced that the 24hr curfew has been relaxed and would start by 12noon- 6pm