At least 12 persons travelling from Zaria local government area of Kaduna State were attacked and killed by hoodlums in Mangu local government area of Plateau State at the weekend.
It was gathered that some other travellers sustained various degree of injuries and were rushed to the hospital in Mangu for medical attention.
Our correspondent reports that over 18 travellers comprising men, women and children, travelling in an 18-seater bus belonging to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, were attacked by the hoodlums around 8pm on Friday.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the travellers were heading to Qua’an Pan LGA of Plateau State to attend a wedding ceremony when they were attacked.
The driver of the bus, who is also an ABU staff, was also killed in the attack.
However, the Chief Imam of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa’ikamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) in Mangu LGA, Sheikh Suleiman Haruna, who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said the corpses of the victims have been deposited at Mangu General Hospital.
“There were over 20 travellers in the bus. Now we have eight corpses in the hospital. 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.
Ibrahim Umar, one of the survivors, narrated that, “We were heading to Qua’an Pan to attend a wedding ceremony of our brother when we missed the road.”
According to him, “we stopped and asked some people for directions, but before we knew it, they surrounded the vehicle and killed 12 people.
“They started beating and attacking us with dangerous weapons. The hoodlums killed the driver first and then attacked others. They burned the bus with the corpses inside. We are now in the hospital, receiving treatment,” the survivor narrated.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Plateau State Police Command, DSP Alfred Alabo, when contacted, said the Command was aware of the incident but would issue a formal statement later.
According to him, the Command was working to ascertain the true situation before making any comment.
