By Marie-Therese Nanlong.

Jos – Tarok communities in Wase local government area of Plateau State were on Saturday attacked by gunmen in Military gears with yet to be specified number of persons mostly women and children killed.

The communities identified as Kadarko, Saku, Wadata, Kasuwa, Kurmi and others were said to be attacked when the gunmen in over 10 trucks arrived the villages following reports of alleged killing of four soldiers in a neighboring Council in Taraba State.

Residents claim the soldiers drove into the communities shooting sporadically, killing innocent people, burning their houses and causing pandemonium in the Council and neighboring areas.

The attacks were allegedly a retaliation to the killings of the said soldiers, two of whom were of the Taroh ethnic tribe from the area where the gunmen attacked.

Spokesman of the Special Task Force, STF, Capt Ikedichi Iweha while reacting to the incident said there was no truth in the claim that its members attacked anybody.

According to him, “following frequent attacks on communities around the Plateau-Taraba border by some militiamen, the STF and soldiers from the 3 Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army had been carrying out operations targeted at flushing out the militiamen.

“The soldiers who are working to protect innocent civilians could not turn around to kill the same civilians.”

However, normalcy is yet to be restored in the communities as searches are still on to find missing persons and some residents are fleeing the areas for fear of further attacks.