The death toll in the Plateau Christmas Eve attack in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi has risen to 195 as the search for missing persons is still ongoing.
This is according to the Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Musa Ashoms, who disclosed this on Thursday.
However, the Nigerian Red Cross, a Non-Governmental Organization in Bokkos disclosed that 161 deaths were recorded with 32,604 persons affected. The attack has affected 84 communities in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi and left 29,350 persons displaced.
According to the Red Cross, the coordinated attack left 301 persons injured and 27 houses burnt.
Armed groups launched attacks between Saturday evening and Tuesday morning in Nigeria’s Plateau State, a region plagued for several years by religious and ethnic tensions.
Authorities had previously put the death toll at 163.
During a meeting with Nigeria’s vice president on Wednesday, Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, said that 148 Bokkos villagers had been killed in the attacks.
At least 50 people were also reported dead in several villages in the Barkin Ladi area, according to Dickson Chollom, a member of the state parliament.
“We appeal to you to resist the temptation to succumb to sectional divisions or the poisonous rhetoric of hatred towards your fellow citizens, as we pursue justice to ensure your security,” Vice President Kashim Shettima told local officials and displaced people on Wednesday.
There are fears the death toll could rise further as some people remain missing, Kassah told AFP on Tuesday, adding that 500 people had been injured and thousands displaced.
He said that at least 20 villages had been targeted in a series of well-coordinated attacks between Saturday evening and Monday morning.
Gunfire could still be heard on late Monday afternoon, according to a source from the region.
