No fewer than 20 security personnel and local vigilantes were killed when heavily armed terrorists ambushed a patrol team in the Garga area of Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The tragic incident occurred around 4pm Friday when a combined team of military personnel and vigilantes, travelling in two vehicles on routine patrol across Garga, Kyaram, Gyambau, and neighbouring communities, came under heavy fire near Wanka.
According to a press statement issued Saturday by the Kanam Development Association (KADA), about 12 security personnel, including two senior military officers, lost their lives in the fierce gun battle, while eight vigilante members who joined forces to defend their communities also paid the supreme price.
While some terrorists were reportedly neutralised during the exchange, the attackers later stormed Kyaram community, looting property worth millions of naira and rustling a large number of cattle from residents.
The Kanam group described the attack as part of a prolonged wave of insecurity that has plagued the border communities linking Plateau with Taraba and Bauchi states for over three to four years.
The association highlighted recurring incidents of terrorism, cattle rustling, kidnappings, and property destruction, despite repeated appeals to authorities.
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The statement jointly signed by Garba Aliyu, the chairman, and Shehu Kanam, secretary, expressed deep sorrow over the loss and condemned the continued freedom with which terrorists operate in the volatile border corridor.
They demanded urgent intervention from the local government, Plateau State Government, and the Federal Government.
They also called for the immediate deployment of additional military and security forces to Garga, Kyaram, Gyambau, Wanka, and surrounding areas, as well as the establishment of permanent security
outposts in these border communities.
“We called for enhanced coordinated operations along the Plateau-Taraba-Bauchi border as well as relief support for victims who have lost livelihoods, homes, and livestock,” the statement said.
The association stressed that the affected communities are law-abiding citizens seeking only to farm, raise families, and contribute to national development.
They extended their condolences to the Nigerian Armed Forces, families of the fallen soldiers and vigilantes, and the bereaved communities, urging authorities to treat the crisis as a national security and humanitarian emergency.
Security source denies beheading of soldier
At the time of filing this report, Polycarp Oteh, the Spokesperson of Operation Enduring Peace (OPEP), was not available for comments but a military source who confirm the incidence dismissed claims circulating on social media that a soldier was beheaded during an operation against terrorists in the state that led to the killings.
The source, who spoke to BusinessDay on Saturday in confidence said the report was false and likely generated from recycled images being wrongly linked to the incident.
According to the source, troops had carried out a successful clearance operation in a volatile border community linking neighbouring states, aimed at denying terrorists freedom of movement within the area.
“The community is actually happy because the operation was successful. What we were doing was a clean-up operation to deny the terrorists freedom of action in that corridor,” the source said.
The source explained that after troops initially subdued the attackers, some of the terrorists regrouped out of anger and launched another attack on a section of the troops working alongside local vigilantes.
He, however, insisted that reports claiming that soldiers were beheaded or mutilated were untrue.
“Some pictures you see online are sometimes taken from somewhere else and attributed to Plateau. There was no beheading of any soldier,” the source added, noting that military operations in the area were still ongoing.
The source further described the attackers as terrorists, stressing that security forces would continue operations in the area until the threat is neutralised.
