Armed Fulani herdsmen carried out a string of coordinated attacks across Plateau State on the night of September 13, 2026. They ambushed a passenger vehicle at Dungus in Jos South LGA and struck two other communities the same night. On September 15, they killed three village security guards on sentry duty in Barkin Ladi and reportedly moved to attack mourners at their burial. The attacks came days after a separate wave of killings in Mangu LGA, bringing Plateau’s death toll for the week to roughly 20.
Attacks on funerals and burial processions are a recurring pattern in this part of Plateau. In the Nding Fan district of Barkin Ladi LGA, the same local government area as the NTV burial, Fulani gunmen attacked mourners burying seven people killed in an earlier assault on May 6, 2026. The attackers descended from the surrounding hills and opened fire as villagers were still digging graves.
The assault was part of simultaneous attacks on more than five communities south of Jos, forcing residents to bury the dead hastily and flee. Berom Youth Moulders publicity secretary Rwang Tengwong called the scene “terrible.”
In Benue State, gunmen ambushed mourners returning from a burial in Ushongo LGA on April 26, 2026, killing three people, Bem Msughter, Aondo Chia, and Sunday Terwase, and abducting two others, according to Premium Times. State lawmaker Simon Gabo said the attackers were believed to have crossed from neighboring Katsina-Ala LGA.
The deadliest of the September 13 attacks occurred at a highway junction linking Kuru Jenta to Kuru Dungu-Sieh. At approximately 9:40 p.m., gunmen opened fire on a commercial vehicle carrying Christians home from the market.
Nine people were killed at the scene, including the vehicle’s Hausa Muslim driver, who had come to the Christian community to conduct his transport business. A Hausa Muslim fish trader was shot in the neck and, before dying, told those nearby that he recognized the attackers as Fulani herdsmen.
One of the dead was a member of Operation Rainbow, Plateau State’s peace-monitoring outfit, according to Berom Youth Moulders spokesman Rwang Tengwong, who called the killing “a sad development.” A local resident, Musa Dauda, said some injured survivors died after being taken to the hospital, meaning the confirmed toll of nine may understate the total.
Village Chief Da Bulus Pwajok Kwis told The Gateway Pundit that gunmen had originally been expected to strike Mariroma Foron in Haipang district and other communities in Foron district, Barkin Ladi. Those villages had been warned in advance and locked down before 6 p.m.
Finding Mariroma Foron evacuated, he said, the attackers apparently redirected to the highway junction at Dungus, a gathering point on Sundays, before withdrawing. Some of the group then moved to a neighboring community and killed a security guard.
Other armed groups struck elsewhere in Plateau the same night. Two women were killed at approximately 3 a.m. in Tahoos, Riyom LGA, and two more people were killed in Vodni, Mangu LGA.
Kwis put Plateau’s death toll for that single night at approximately 13. This matches tallies from Nigerian news outlets, which recorded nine dead at Dungus, two at Vodni, and two at Tahoos.
The September 13 attacks followed a separate spate of killings in Mangu LGA two days earlier. Geoffrey Gumut, 55, was beheaded in Kikyau; Pius Dachen, 50, and Zadok Irmiya, 25, were killed in Ntul; Katbam Titus, 29, was killed in Kinat; and Danjuma Kyesle, 45, was wounded with a machete in Larkas.
The Mwaghavul Youth Movement said the Kinat killing occurred only hours after the Nigerian Army’s General Officer Commanding 3 Division visited Mangu for a security meeting with Mwaghavul and Fulani leaders. Military officials reportedly promised action against future attackers. The group also alleged that security personnel were stationed in Larkas at the time of the attack there.
According to Kwis, the September 13 attackers came from Fulani settlements at Fars or Bichichi. He noted that no security checkpoint exists on the route from Fars, while the Bichichi route would have required the attackers to pass military checkpoints.
He said Bichichi had been placed on alert following a separate warning of an attack there, which he suggested pushed the gunmen toward the undefended highway. He further alleged that a Fulani political figure, whom he declined to name on camera, had visited Bichichi three weeks earlier on a day when Fulani residents reportedly prepared to attack the town.
Kwis called on the government to investigate that visit and unnamed officials he said had been “fingered in sponsoring and training” the bandits. He also called for a ban on open grazing and for security forces to be redeployed from civilian communities to the bandits’ known camps.
Kwis’s allegation follows a pattern of similar claims elsewhere in Nigeria that have been officially confirmed. In May 2025, the Nigerian Army’s Operation Hadin Kai reported the arrest of security operatives, a traditional ruler, and several civilians under a covert initiative called Operation Snowball. The investigation, spanning 11 states, including Plateau, concerned the illegal sale of weapons to terrorists and criminal groups.
Those named included Ameh Raphael, a 7th Division Garrison armourer with ₦45 million (approximately $30,000) in suspicious bank transactions since 2018, and police inspector Enoch Ngwa, whose personal account showed ₦135 million (approximately $90,000) in arms-related transactions. Theatre Commander Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar said 18 serving soldiers and 15 police officers were implicated.
In a separate, earlier case, a military Board of Inquiry cleared 10 soldiers, including then-Captain Tijjani Balarabe, whom police had accused of helping kidnapping kingpin Bala Hamisu Wadume escape from a police convoy in Takum, Taraba State, on August 6, 2019. Soldiers from the Nigerian Army’s 93 Battalion opened fire on the convoy, killing three policemen and two civilians.
Wadume was recaptured and convicted by Federal High Court Justice Binta Nyako on July 22, 2022. He was sentenced to seven years for escaping lawful custody and illegal firearms dealing. Two co-defendants received identical sentences, while dismissed police inspector Aliyu Dadje received three years.
The soldiers were never prosecuted, and Balarabe was promoted to major in September 2021. Debo Adeniran of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership said at the time that “Balarabe and other soldiers indicted in the case did not deserve to be in service, let alone enjoy promotion.”
On September 15, gunmen based less than a kilometer from NTV village in Barkin Ladi attacked security guards on night sentry duty. They killed three men, two at NTV and one in Gaza, both within Barkin Ladi LGA.
Community resident Gabriel Ayuba said the attack occurred at approximately 11 p.m. while the men were watching over the community. He called it “very sad that people who were only protecting the community were attacked and killed.”
Tengwong, spokesman for the Berom Youth Moulders, confirmed the three deaths and called on security agencies to “intensify patrols and take proactive measures.” He also urged them to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
At the joint burial for the victims, Berom Youth Moulders President Solomon Mwantiri said mourners spotted and recorded another group of armed men advancing toward the burial site while the grave was still being dug. Mobile police officers and the sector commander attending the ceremony also witnessed the movement.
Mwantiri noted that Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu had visited Plateau State around the same time. The inspector-general’s office confirmed a September 16 itinerary that included a courtesy call on the governor, a stop at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, and inspections of the police college and state police headquarters.
Mwantiri suggested that the attackers may have timed their approach to the burial to coincide with or mock the visit. He said Plateau’s clergy had been “left with one function,” officiating at funerals for people “killed by … the seed of Satan and children of Lucifer.”
He appealed to President Bola Tinubu, the Plateau State governor, and the international community to intervene. He also said local youths were prepared to be trained and equipped to defend their communities.
Plateau State Commissioner for Information Joyce Lohya Ramnap issued a statement Monday describing the attacks as “deeply disturbing.” She appealed to citizens “to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies by providing credible and timely information.” She also urged residents to “resist the temptation to resort to reprisal attacks, which can further escalate violence.”
Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang separately called on residents to provide intelligence to security agencies. The Plateau State Police Command did not respond to press inquiries at the time of the initial reports, and its spokesman, Alfred Alabo, could not be reached by phone.
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