Serious tragedy struck in Plateau State when gunmen carried out a devastating attack in the Bokkos Local Government Area, leading to the tragic deaths of four individuals.

It was learnt that the victims were working at a mining site in the Batura community when the gunmen attacked them around 9 pm, on Friday, killing four persons on the spot, PUNCH reports.

According to the President of the Butura Youth Movement, Sabastine Magit, in a statement issued on Saturday, the gunmen also injured five other persons during the attack before they fled the area.

The youth leader gave the names of those killed as Bwefuk Musa, 21; Klingshak Dickson, 21; Promise Joshua, 20, and Nyam Abaka, 20.

The statement read, “In yet another unprovoked assault on members of the Butura community, armed terrorists, speaking the Fulani dialect, opened fire on innocent youths working at a mining site near the villages of Kuba and Maikatako in the Butura district of Bokkos Local Government Area in Plateau State on October 10.

“Eyewitnesses report that the assailants executed a lightning-fast operation on October 10, fleeing the scene before military personnel stationed at a nearby checkpoint could respond. Tragically, four individuals were killed instantly, and five others sustained injuries. The deceased are: Bwefuk Musa, 21 years; Klingshak Dickson, 21 years; Promise Joshua, 20 years and Nyam Abaka, 20 years.”

The statement noted that the killing of the four youths was the latest in a series of unprovoked attacks on their community, which has seen over 20 of their members killed in the last month alone, all attributed to identified Fulani assailants.

Contacted, the spokesman for the Plateau State Command, Alabo Alfred, and the spokesman for the Military Taskforce in charge of maintaining peace in the state, Major Samson Zhakom, as well as the state Commissioner for Information, Musa Ashoms, were not readily available to comment on the incident as several calls put across to their phone lines rang out.