Barely a week after over 100 persons were gruesomely murdered by suspected herdsmen in Jos, Plateau state, new reports from the state says another 10 persons were killed in renewed attacks in Mangu and Barkin Ladi communities in Jos, the state capital over the weekend.

Six persons were killed during a shootout in Mangu on Saturday, June 30th while four persons were killed in Barkin Ladi on Sunday, July 1st.

Confirming the continuous killings despite the curfew and heavy military presence, the media officer of the task force, Major Adam Umar, in a statement, said that the security officers got a distress call at about 3am yesterday that armed bandits were attacking a home in Barkin Ladi. Sadly, four persons had been killed before they got to the scene of the attack.

In its avowed commitment to ensuring that the renewed attacks are promptly brought to an end, the commander of the task force, Major General Anthony Atolagbe, has relocated the headquarters of the task force from Jos to Barkin Ladi. 

The Commander has also relocated with all his principal officers to the epic centre of the renewed attacks. To this end, the commander will be coordinating the day-to-day running of the task force from the new operational headquarters in Barkin Ladi.

“We wish to call on citizens of the state especially the residents of Barkin Ladi Local Government, to continue to have faith in the operations. We are fully on ground to continue to discharge our duties of protecting everybody in the state and we remain resolute to achieving our mandate in the state. We therefore use this opportunity to warn any criminal making or planning to make life miserable for innocent citizens to desist from the act forthwith.’’