Six More Killed in Plateau Barkin Ladi Attack as State Mourns Back-to-Back Violence

Gunmen killed six people and injured three others in a fresh attack on communities in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, coming just days after 22 people including health workers were slaughtered in Kawel village, Bokkos LGA, on June 21, as the state mourned back-to-back cycles of devastating communal violence.

Daily Post reported the Barkin Ladi attack, which brought the combined death toll from the two incidents to 28 people killed in Plateau State within the span of a week. The recurring pattern of violence, targeting farming communities and now a primary healthcare centre in the Bokkos attack, has prompted security agencies, civil society, and elder statesmen to demand a more decisive and sustained federal response.

Governor Mutfwang Orders Security Reinforcement

Governor Caleb Mutfwang directed security agencies to reinforce deployments across Barkin Ladi and Bokkos, ordering that the perpetrators of both attacks be tracked down and brought to justice without further delay. He described the attacks as acts of terrorism that his government would not tolerate, saying the safety and dignity of Plateau State’s farming communities were non-negotiable.

The Inspector-General of Police had already deployed an Assistant Inspector-General to Plateau following the Bokkos attack, with additional police mobile force personnel joining military units already operating in the affected axis. However, residents said the response time after each attack remained too slow to prevent casualties and that pre-emptive intelligence gathering was more urgently needed than post-attack deployments.

Pattern Reflects Entrenched Crisis

Security analysts said the Plateau violence reflected a decades-old cycle of communal conflict between farming communities and armed herding groups, compounded by competition over land, water, and political representation. However, they said the targeting of a health facility in Bokkos marked a deliberate escalation that demanded more than routine security responses. Former President Obasanjo used a recent Jos visit to call for decisive federal intervention. Furthermore, Amnesty International Nigeria condemned both attacks and demanded independent investigations. Consequently, Plateau State entered July 2026 as one of the country’s most acutely vulnerable regions for civilian safety.