Langtang violence: residents desert communities

Residents of villages in the Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau are deserting their communities in droves, following fears that more attacks are underway in the villages.
The Chairman of the Local Government, Mr Naanman Darko, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Friday.
``There are fears of more attacks after what took place yesterday, so the villagers are already running helter-skelter to practically everywhere they think is safe,’’ Darko said.
NAN reports that the three villages of Bolgang, Magama and Karkashi had been under intense attacks by gunmen who laid siege on the communities early on Thursday, killing many villagers, many of whom were on their way to their farms.
Also fleeing their community are residents of Takbol, a village on the borders of the three affected communities.
The assailants are said to be aggrieved over the theft of their cattle.

Darko, who told NAN that 32 people had been killed, said that some of the victims included students writing the NECO examinations.
``It is the farming season and people should be busy. Students are also writing examinations, but all of that has been halted.
``People have abandoned their villages, farms and other property in search of safety. It is a bad situation that could have more devastating effects. There is the fear of hunger in the very near future.
``Early this morning, I called the Police Commissioner (Mr Chris Olakpe), who has promised to send more mobile policemen to help men of the STF,’’ he said.
Brig.-Gen. Henry Ayoola, Commander of the Special Task Force (STF) maintaining peace in Plateau, has confirmed the attacks, saying, however, that order had been restored to the communities.
Ayoola also confirmed the killing of many people but said that exact figures were not immediately available.
He harped on the need for a more permanent security arrangement to save the area from constant invasion by gunmen.
``Such incessant attacks have affected our economy and every other facet of our lives, markets are hardly opened and school children are scared of stepping out. No one is safe even in their homes,’’ he stated.

Information from NAN was used in this report