30 Slaughtered in Niger State, 17 Gunned Down in Plateau During First 3 Days
By Masara Kim
(Jos) President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered a full-scale crackdown on terrorists January, 4, following an attack on a rural market in Niger State that killed at least 30 villagers.
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga attributed the Kasuwan Daji attack to terrorists fleeing U.S. airstrikes in Sokoto and Zamfara. (See related story by Segun Onibiyo on this site.) The statement reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to justice:
“These terrorists have tested the resolve of our country and its people,” Tinubu declared. “They must face the full consequences of their criminal actions. No matter who they are or what their intent is, they must be hunted down. Those who aid, abet, or enable them will be caught and brought to justice.”
This marks a significant shift from Tinubu’s earlier stance, which downplayed such attacks as mere bandit raids. The directive came only after dozens were killed in a single incident, despite sporadic attacks claiming over 40 lives in the preceding three days in other states of Nigeria.
On January 2nd, seven people were killed in Plateau State according to local media. The attack in Bong Village of Doemak District in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area [county], followed two days of violent clashes between civilian guards and Fulani terrorists invading villages in Mangu and Jos south counties leading to at least 17 deaths. Among them were eight Fulani terrorists killed in self-defense by local civilian guards with little support from the army, TruthNigeria has learned.
The Fulani, a majority-Muslim ethnic group, is one of Africa’s largest, with over 20 million members across West Africa and about 10 million in Nigeria. While most Fulani people peacefully pursue livelihoods in business, politics, and academia, a radical faction has been implicated in thousands of genocidal massacres—killing six times more Christians than Boko Haram, according to monitoring groups. Fulani leaders have consistently denied these allegations, claiming their members are victims of ethnic profiling and targeted attacks.
New Year’s Eve Attacks by Fulani Militia in Jos South
Attacks by Fulani ethnic militia had been recorded already on New Year’s Eve, as armed terrorists killed nine people on the outskirts of Jos the state capital. Witnesses report the early evening attack in the village of Bum, located in the Chugwi District of Jos South County, was carried out by an estimated 40 armed terrorists who spoke the Fulani dialect.
TruthNigeria published an advance warning of the attack several hours prior, yet nothing was done to stop it.
“They broke into homes and killed anyone in sight,” said one witness who claimed she recognised one of the assailants as a Fulani acquaintance who previously lived near the village and often stopped by while herding his cattle.
Although she escaped by hiding in a dark corner of her room, her husband and children were slaughtered while fleeing under the 11-day-old waxing moonlight.
“There was just no hiding anywhere,” said the witness who would not be named for her safety.
Civilian Guards Credited with Blunting the Attack
Despite their advantage, supported by their large numbers, the terrorists managed to kill only nine people including two elderly, three children and two women. A group of five self-defense guards armed with homemade single-shot pipe guns bravely challenged the invaders who were armed with assault rifles, miraculously saving the remaining over 120 residents, according to local leaders.
“Let me thank most sincerely, our youths, our young men who in no little effort helped the security to even repel these attackers otherwise the damage would have been worse,” said Mr. Silas Patrick Dung, the Chairman of Jos South County.
“The government will do its own part, but the citizens must also play a role,” Mr. Dung charged during the mass burial of nine victims of the attack on January 2nd.
The Bum civilian guard team hiding behind brick walls and the surrounding hills managed to draw blood from the attackers, according to witnesses speaking to TruthNigeria. The attacking force may have had unrecorded casualties, according to the Berom Tribal Leader.
“There were traces of blood leading to the hills where they came from,” said Solomon Dalyop, the tribal leader of the Berom tribe which dominates the area.
“We expect the securities to have followed those blood stains to trace the whereabouts of those attackers, but that has not been the case,” said Dalyop during the mass burial on Jan. 2, 2026.
“If not for the intervention of the self-defense guards who acted with little or no support from the military, the whole of this village would have been wiped out,” Dalyop said.
“This is why we’ve been calling for the training and arming of self-defense groups to protect civilian communities because it appears government is overwhelmed,” Solomon said.
“Whenever our people are killed, all we hear is that government is on top of the situation and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. And we’ve not seen the arrests; we’ve not seen the security on ground to go after the perpetrators. Their camps are known. And we are expecting that there would be military actions on those locations. We’ve never seen a military action carried out on Mahanga, a notorious terrorist enclave that coordinates and carries out attacks and acts of terrorism all over the Middle Belt and other parts of the country,” Dalyop added.
As he made those comments Jan. 2, 2026, in the presence of the police and army in Bum, another group of terrorists was on its way to launch renewed attacks 50 miles away in Mangu County. TruthNigeria issued an advance warning of the attack shortly before sunset on January 2nd, but what followed was a “full war” according to local leaders and military sources speaking to TruthNigeria.
“They came in large numbers from around Jipal axis,” said Asabar Daklak, the youth leader of Mangun district. “Luckily, our people were on guard, and they managed to push back the attackers,” Daklak told TruthNigeria, acknowledging the engagement of soldiers from Operation Enduring Peace.
Military sources speaking on background told TruthNigeria the operation involved a joint team of soldiers from Sectors 8 in Mangu and 5 in Bokkos, acting in collaboration with local guard teams.
“It was a joint operation,” said a top army commander speaking to TruthNigeria. “We had intelligence about the planned invasions, and we had to plan for them,” said the source on background. “Many of them were killed,” said the source.
Masara Kim is a conflict reporter in Jos Nigeria and a senior editor of TruthNigeria.
