A community leader in Anguwan Rukuba has confirmed that at least 26 residents were killed in a coordinated attack on Sunday night, with the death toll expected to rise as some victims remain hospitalised.
Disturbing footage obtained Monday morning showed lifeless bodies lying in the community as survivors struggled to process the scale of the tragedy. A visibly shaken community leader, speaking in the video, said attackers had carefully planned the assault on unsuspecting residents.
“They laid ambush on our people. They killed more than 26 — we are still counting,” he said, adding that the community was calling on the government to act decisively. “We are tired of the killings. If nothing is done, we won’t be able to control the youths.”
According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers arrived around 7 p.m. on Sunday, with some reportedly dressed in military uniforms, and opened rapid fire on residents in an area already plunged into darkness due to a power outage. Many fled into the night to escape the gunfire.
By Monday morning, hundreds of residents in Jos North Local Government Area had defied a government-imposed curfew, pouring into the streets to protest what they described as repeated attacks and persistent government inaction. The demonstration grew tense when police moved in to disperse the crowd, with officers deploying tear gas to break up the gathering.
“People are now running because the police want to shoot at us,” one witness said.
The Plateau State Government announced a 48-hour curfew over Jos North following the attack. Commissioner for Information Joyce Lohya Ramnap described the killings as tragic, while Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang condemned the incident as “barbaric and unprovoked,” assuring residents that security agencies had been mobilised.
However, the scenes on the streets of Jos Monday morning painted a starkly different picture — one of a community that has lost faith in the government’s ability to protect it. Residents warned that continued inaction risks pushing increasingly frustrated youths toward further unrest.
The Anguwan Rukuba attack is the latest in a long and troubling pattern of violence in Plateau State, reigniting urgent questions about Nigeria’s deepening security crisis and the state’s capacity to safeguard vulnerable communities.
