At least 12 travellers from the Basawa community in Zaria, Kaduna State, were killed during an attack by an irate mob in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, on Friday.
Eleven others were injured and are still receiving hospital treatment.
The victims, a group of 31 men, women, and children, were travelling in an 18-seater bus owned by Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria when group assaulted them around 8 p.m.
According to reports, the travellers were on their way to Qua’an Pan LGA to attend a wedding ceremony when they encountered a mob.
Sheikh Suleiman Haruna, the Chief Imam of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa’ikamatis Sunnah, confirmed the occurrence to journalists and stated that the corpses had been deposited at Mangu General Hospital.
“There were 31 travellers in the bus. Now we have 8 corpses in the hospitals. We have asked the security personnel to help recover the remaining four bodies. We were together with the chairman of Mangu LGA, and he has been up and doing on the matter, “the Chief Imam said.
One of the survivors, Ibrahim Umar, narrated that “We were heading to Qua’an Pan to attend a wedding ceremony of our brother when we missed the road because we didn’t know it. We stopped and asked some people for directions, but before we knew it, they surrounded the vehicle, shouting that we should be killed.
“They started beating and attacking us with dangerous weapons. The mob killed the driver first and then attacked others. They burnt the bus with the corpses inside. We are now in the hospital, receiving care.”
When contacted, DSP Alfred Altau, the spokesperson of the state police command, said, “The police were aware of the incident but would issue a statement regarding it later.”
