PLATEAU STATE, Nigeria In yet another devastating blow to Nigeria’s embattled North-Central region, armed assailants killed 18 people in coordinated overnight attacks on two Plateau villages, security sources confirmed.
The raiders struck Kawel and Kopkon communities at approximately 1:20 am on June 20, firing indiscriminately before melting into the bush as troops from Operation Enduring Peace’s Sector 5 scrambled to respond.
The Grim Tally
· Kawel: 12 bodies recovered
· Kopkon: 6 bodies recovered
Troops immediately launched a manhunt for the fleeing attackers, with security forces intensifying patrols across the state’s rural hotspots. But for grieving families, the military’s response came too late yet again.
Plateau’s Bloody Timeline
The attack is part of a chilling pattern of violence that has turned Plateau into a killing field. In March, gunmen killed 27 residents in Angwan Rukuba area of Jos North. Just two months later, 12 more were slaughtered in separate attacks on communities in Riyom and Bassa LGAs. Now, with 18 fresh deaths in Kawel and Kopkon, the toll has climbed to 57 lives lost in just four months.
A Crisis Without End
Despite repeated military deployments, Plateau’s rural communities remain trapped in a vicious cycle of deadly herder-farmer clashes, ethnic reprisal attacks, state security failures, and impunity for perpetrators.
“Operation Enduring Peace has intensified patrols and security deployments,” a source told Zagazola Makama. But locals ask: For how long?
The Bigger Picture
Nigeria’s Middle Belt has become a graveyard of broken promises. With each attack, trust in the government’s ability to protect citizens erodes further. The gunmen remain at large and the next village could be next.
