No fewer than twelve persons reportedly lost their lives when bandits and vigilante clashed in Zak Community of Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.<\/p>\n
Youth leader in the Area, who identified himself as Zak, disclosed that the incident took place at night on Monday. <\/p>\n
Sambo said \u201cThe incident occurred around 9 pm yesterday, and the clash left 9 of the gunmen dead, while 3 vigilantes died in the incident.<\/p>\n
Sambo maintained that \u201cThe bandits came on motorcycles in their numbers in the morning. We suspected that they passed a night in a bush closed to Zak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people realised that the bandits arrived in the community, they quickly informed Operation Safe Haven stationed in Zak and they swiftly mobilised their troops to the general area and repelled the attacks together with the vigilantes. It was a serious crash, \u201d Shapi\u2019 added.<\/p>\n
The Spokesman of the Military Taskforce responsible for the maintenance of peace in the state, code-named Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), Major Ishaku Takwa, also confirmed the incident to journalists, but could not ascertain the casualty figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aware of an incident in Wase, but I cannot confirm any casualty.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur troops repelled the attack, our men moved to Gajin Bashar community after receiving distress calls of an attack, that\u2019s all I can say for now\u201d, he explained.<\/p>\n
Recall that last week Thursday, suspected bandits were said to have killed seven military personnel and one vigilante in some communities of Bashar chiefdom in the aforementioned council of the state.<\/p>\n
This was revealed when the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee visited the affected communities.<\/p>\n
Recall that the suspected bandits had given quit notices to some communities in the council, warning the residents to evacuate the villages or be wiped out.<\/p>\n