Three people were killed in Cha village in Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State, last Sunday night, in an unending orgy of violence in the North Central part of the state.
The victims are a man, his wife, and one of their children. The trio, according to the Spokesman of the Operation Safe Haven, Capt Oya James, were mauled down in a suspected targeted assassination.
Hundreds of people, including farmers and herders, have been killed in the last three months in the clashes between local farmers and pastoralists in Mangu over grazing lands.
James, who spoke to our Correspondent on telephone from Mangu, said three people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
He said: “The suspects were said to have opened the gate of the victims’ house, went straight to the room and shot the man, his wife and child. We are suspecting that it’s a case of assassination because, according to one of the man’s sons, the suspects went straight to the house of the victims, opened the gate, went straight to the rooms and killed his father, mother and sibling.
“If it were a normal attack, more than one house would have been involved, and it would have been a mass attack; but the presence of our troops have put to rest such mass action.”
The OPSH spokesman said the troops on ground were able to quell a protest by some people in the area over the incident, and bring the situation under control.
The latest incident is coming a few weeks after the Chief of Army Staff, Maj Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, launched a special operation, Hakorin Damisa IV, to rid Mangu of the spate of killings, which started three months ago.
It also came less than 48 hours after Governor Caleb Mutfwang deployed agro rangers to three crisis-ridden local councils of Barkin Ladi, Mangu and Riyom, to protect the farming communities and their crops against further attacks.
