2/14/11 Nigeria (CSW) – A week of relative peace in Nigeria’s Plateau State has been shattered by a series of attacks that have left at least nine people dead.
Three members of one family were among five people killed in a targeted attack on three homes at the Federal College of Land Resources in Kuru near Jos on the evening of 10 February. Eyewitnesses report that men dressed in military uniforms were amongst the attackers.
The men began by attacking the home of Mr Chube Job, who was shot dead in his bedroom. They then proceeded to shoot and kill his wife, Susan, and little daughter Emmanuella, who were in the bathroom, while the couple’s two other children looked on from the living room.
Next, the attackers headed straight for two other houses nearby. Alice, a teenager whose father Gideon was the next victim, said, “At about 7 pm we heard gunshots and my father came out. We told him not to go out but he went out to call my brother, who was standing outside with another man, an electrician. The men barged in, shouting, ‘Here he is, get him!’ And they shot them.” The electrician, identified only as Hosea, was also killed. Alice’s brother was shot in the neck and is currently in hospital.
At the third house, Mr Bolaji was shot in the waist, but his pregnant wife told CSW’s sources that she thanked God that he was not killed. The men also shot at the couple’s car and set a bus on fire; however, a fire extinguisher in the bus exploded and put out the flames.
According to eyewitnesses, the men used a blow torch to set the houses ablaze, and stole over 30 cows belonging to Mr Job.
Following the attack, college students held a demonstration against the lack of security on the campus.
Two days later, an elderly woman was beheaded, two of her grandchildren were murdered, and a man was killed during a late night attack by unknown assailants on Shekan village in Jos South.
