Guns Blazed Hours after TruthNigeria Warning
By Masara Kim Usman
JOS, Nigeria — A pastor, a church employee, and six others were gunned down Saturday in orchestrated terror attacks 30-40 miles south of Jos, hours after TruthNigeria issued advance warnings of them.
According to local leaders, the attacks began shortly after sunset on Saturday, September 19.
Thousands of residents are now fleeing communities in the region amid persisting violence by terrorists identifying as Fulani.
TruthNigeria had published two separate alerts on Saturday, warning of plans by radical Islamist militants to launch mass attacks targeting Christian market returnees, miners, and Sunday worshippers in Jos South, Barkin Ladi, Mangu, Bokkos and Riyom counties.
The latest killings bring the death toll from attacks attributed to Fulani Ethnic Militia in Plateau State to 25 in the past week, including three victims buried on Saturday, just hours before TruthNigeria’s alert was published.
Saturday Night Ambushes
Solomon Dalyop, President of the Berom Youth Moulders Association, told TruthNigeria that five Christians were ambushed around 7:30 p.m. local time — less than two hours after the TruthNigeria alerts — while traveling in an Opel GT 1.8 sedan near Gana-Ropp village in Barkin Ladi County.
“They were ambushed by Fulani-speaking terrorists who riddled the car with bullets,” Dalyop said.
Around the same time, 10 miles away in Baten village, Riyom County, a civilian guard was shot and killed while standing watch outside his home, Dalyop added.
In a third incident, about 15 miles away in Ndar village, Bokkos County, a man and his son were critically injured.
Pastor Killed on Way to Church, Villages Under Siege
While the TruthNigeria team was en route to Barkin Ladi on Sunday morning to cover the aftermath of Saturday’s attacks, a pastor was ambushed in Dorowa Babuje village, 5 miles from the scene.
The pastor was traveling to church with a church secretary and his son when they were attacked, TruthNigeria learned. The pastor and the secretary were killed. His son was critically injured, local leaders said.
As the TruthNigeria team drove to the scene, the area came under heavy fire. Terrorists simultaneously attacked three surrounding villages, TruthNigeria learned.
TruthNigeria captured live footage of armed militants advancing and firing toward the communities as local civilian guards struggled to hold them back and evacuate vulnerable residents.
Police, Army, and operatives of the Department of State Services [DSS] were on the ground. The Army deployed gun trucks, firing anti-aircraft guns into the air to scare the attackers. A Nigerian Air Force fighter jet — filmed by TruthNigeria with rockets visibly attached to its wings — was seen circling the area but did not strike targets.
Police and DSS personnel who attempted to confront the militants were overpowered, according to eyewitnesses. TruthNigeria learned that at least one DSS officer was injured and a police armored vehicle was damaged.
Sambo Chollom, village head of Dorowa, spoke to TruthNigeria after running under gunfire alongside the team:
“One of our Pastors was ambushed and killed along with his Church Secretary and his son was injured. While we were still reeling from that attack, I just heard gunshots around me. The incident happened just minutes away around Mararabar Kantoma around 7:30 a.m. But within minutes, they just surrounded us, and that was when massive shootings began,” he said.
“They went to Shurum, they went to Mararabar Kantoma, and Rapomol, and that is what is still ongoing now.”
As of 3:30 p.m. local time Sunday, residents fleeing Mararabar Kantoma TruthNigeria said that attackers had seized control of all major roads, cutting off escape routes.
“Do not attempt to come close, they have laid siege to the entire village. I am currently speaking from hiding and do not even know where my children are,” said Nanbam Ayuba, a mother of five who lost her husband in a similar 2023 attack, to TruthNigeria.
‘The Camps Are Less Than Two Miles Away’
Dalyop commended security forces for responding but faulted the timing and scale of intervention despite advance intelligence.
“Prior to this incident, TruthNigeria intelligence has it that Dorowa Babuje and the neighboring villages will face mass attacks from Saturday evening. They also targeted villages in Mangu, Bokkos and Rayfield communities in south Jos,” he said.
“I personally witnessed the coming of these terrorists. In fact, we were trapped when we arrived here. As you can see over there, those are the camps of the terrorists who have seized lands and established their base, and if these terrorists had been flushed out early enough, this would not have happened,” he said. Dalyop said the bases are located less than two miles from the attacked villages.
During the filming mission as gunfire approached, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang briefly stopped in the community and spoke with policemen on the ground before his convoy departed.
The Commander of Operation Safe Haven, a military Special Task Force, Maj. Gen. Williams Maxwell Dangana, also visited, remaining on the highway during his 20-minute stop. The Coordinator of the Plateau State-owned intelligence unit, Operation Rainbow, retired Brig.-Gen. Nash Yakubu, who also visited, spoke briefly with TruthNigeria and appealed for collaboration, promising to revert for interviews.
The attacks were ongoing at press time.
Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter in Jos, Nigeria, and the senior editor of TruthNigeria.
