Sahara Reporters
An Islamic rights advocacy group, popularly known as Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has requested the arrest of all the members of Irigwe militia group allegedly responsible for the recent killing of some Muslim travellers in Plateau State.
The state police command on Sunday said it had arrested 20 suspects in connection with the deadly attack on travellers in Jos, the state capital.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola, Director of MURIC
On Saturday, several travellers were attacked and killed by gunmen in the Jos North Local Government Area of the state.
The travellers were reportedly passing through Jos when they ran into gunmen who opened fire on them.
The victims were coming in a convoy of five buses from a yearly dikr prayer in Bauchi State and heading to Ikare in Ondo state when the assailants suddenly hijacked their buses and disembarked them.
Twenty-two persons were killed while 14 others were seriously injured.
But the activities of the heavily armed men were curtailed following the arrival of security agencies.
Six of them were consequently arrested at the scene.
Condemning the incident, MURIC described the killing of the Muslim faithful as barbaric, saying the government should round up all the members of the Irigwe Christian militia for allegedly carrying out the attack.
It added that others who might have fled the scene immediately security operatives approached should be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, its Director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a statement on Saturday, condemned the reaction of the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu who claimed the killings by the armed men resulted from ‘mistaken identities’.
Akintola said it was unthinkable for the governor to have associated the killing of a massive number of persons with such a flimsy excuse.
The statement read, “The unarmed Muslims who were in a convoy of five buses were forced to disembark. They were then killed one after another. Twenty-two of them were killed while fourteen (14) were seriously injured. It was the arrival of the police and soldiers on the scene that saved the rest
“Twenty-two (22) unarmed Muslim travellers were brutally killed by a Christian militia group at Rukaba, Jos, Plateau State, today, Saturday, 14th August 2021. The attack began around 9.28 am. The Muslims had attended the annual dhikr prayer in Bau…
