Taraba: 4 Killed, Scores Injured in Fresh Attack by Fulani Herdsmen

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Despite current efforts by Taraba state governor, Architect Darius Ishaku to restore permanent peace to troubled areas of the state, four people were yesterday killed by armed Fulani herdsmen at Dan-Anacha in Gassol local government area of the state.
Besides, no fewer than twenty people sustained varying degrees of injuries in the violent attack that was launched on the community in the night while many residents of the town were already indoors.

The latest attack is coming just five days after Governor Ishaku read a riot act to traditional rulers in the state during a security meeting to ensure overall peace in every part of the state saying whoever is found wanting would face the full wrath of the law.
THISDAY gathered that the Fulani herdsmen launched the attack to avenge the death of a Fulani who was killed in the area after being robbed of his motorcycle.
An eye-witness, Dooior Torkuka told Journalists that the Fulani-men stormed the town in the night and started attacking Tivs on the suspicion that they might be responsible for the killing of the slain Fulani man in the bush.

THISDAY further gathered that majority of those that were wounded in the attack are currently receiving treatment at the First Referrer Hospital in Mutum, headquarters of the local government while not a few people have fled the town for fear of further attacks.
There have been series of violent ethno religious clashes in the state in recent years particularly between Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers which has claimed hundreds of lives and displacement of thousands of others mainly in the central and southern parts of the state.

Torkuka however absolved the Tiv people in the area of any complicity in the killing of the slain Fulani man, saying the persistent killing of Tivs has forced majority of them out of the area while those remaining abstained from going into the bush and restricted themselves to the town to avoid attacks. “Since the crisis forced the Tiv people out of the area, no single Tiv man is in the bush now. Their security is not guaranteed and the few who have returned are staying in the town. How can the killing of a Fulani man in that interior bush be attributed to the Tivs, who are not even allowed to go or stay in the bush at the moment?” he queried.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Joseph Kwaji who confirmed the incident to newsmen said armed Fulani men attacked a Tiv man on his farm around Dan-Anacha and killed him and were mobilising to attack the town when police got information and drafted mobile police men to the area.

He further disclosed that the combined efforts of military and mobile police personnel drafted to the area have brought the situation under control and normalcy has returned.