Brewing crisis. in Plateau State has escalated as five persons were killed on Tuesday and several houses burnt at Funturu village in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State when youths, suspected to be from Irigwe ethnic stock, attacked their Rukuba neighbours.
The two communities have been at logger-heads over a land dispute. Only a week ago, the police in Jos averted what could have been a bloody communal clash between the two communities. Some Irigwe youths were said to have attacked the Rukuba community as a form of reprisal, after an old woman was allegedly killed by some youths perceived to be from the Rukuba community.
No fewer than 50 people have been killed in the lingering clashes between the two communities, who are neighbours.
The Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, who confirmed the incident, however, said that only two people were killed and three others wounded.
He said that a detachment of mobile policemen had been drafted to the area to restore normalcy.
He revealed that a fight broke out between Irigwe and Rukuba youths over a protracted land dispute.
Abuh said, “At about 12.30 hours of Tuesday, youths suspected to be of Irigwe extraction attacked one village called Funturu in Bass and in the course of the attack, two persons were shot dead, while three others were wounded. The wounded persons were taken to the hospital for treatment while the dead were evacuated to the mortuary.”
He said the command was suspecting that the attackers were from Irigwe, because they were speaking their native language when they invaded the village.
According to the police, the attackers used sophisticated guns and other assorted weapons during the attack.
The spokesperson for the of Rukuba community, Prof. Aboi Madaki, blamed the Irigwe people for frustrating all efforts to bring peace to the warring communities.
He said that the attackers also kidnapped two people.
