JOS, Nigeria – Fresh communal tensions have flared in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State after suspected ethnic Mwaghavul militia fighters attacked pastoralist settlements in Maitumbi village in the early hours of Sunday, September 20, 2026, slaughtering several livestock and inflicting gunshot injuries on others, security and local sources confirmed in Jos.
The dawn raid marks a dangerous resurgence of tit-for-tat reprisal attacks between farming communities and pastoralist herders across the volatile agrarian belt of Plateau State.
Okay News reports that according to field operational dispatches published by counter-insurgency and regional security analyst Zagazola Makama, the armed assailants invaded the rustic settlement at approximately 2:00 a.m., moving directly into grazing camps to attack residents and their herds.
Community sources revealed that several cattle were shot dead on the spot while dozens sustained severe machete and bullet wounds during the ensuing stampede, as herders fled into surrounding bushes to escape the barrage of gunfire.
Although field personnel of Sector 8, Operation Enduring Peace, alongside troops attached to Operation Safe Haven, were mobilized to restore calm, the precise count of dead livestock and the extent of property damage remained subject to ongoing forensic verification by community leaders and security agencies as of Sunday afternoon.
The Maitumbi incident unfolds against the background of heightened friction across Mangu and neighboring Barkin Ladi and Bokkos local government areas, where recurring disputes over crop destruction, cattle rustling, and blockage of traditional transit routes have repeatedly triggered violent retaliatory skirmishes.
The violence comes just two days after armed assailants stormed an evening vegetable market in Mangu town, killing three traders, and only days after security forces repelled a militia offensive aimed at torching settlements around the Manja and Aloghom rural corridors.
Security commanders and community elders have intensified patrols across peripheral settlements to forestall secondary reprisals, urging youth associations and cattle breeders to exercise restraint and allow formal law enforcement channels to investigate the incident and apprehend the perpetrators.
