Emotions ran high on Saturday, May 24, 2025, as grieving families and residents of Munga Lalau and Munga Doso communities in Karim-Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State held a mass burial for scores of villagers brutally murdered in a pre-dawn assault by suspected herdsmen.
The communities were thrown into chaos and mourning when, around 2am on Friday, over 50 armed assailants stormed the villages on motorcycles, opening fire on sleeping residents. Survivors recounted a night of horror, with attackers wielding AK-47 rifles and machetes, moving from house to house, torching homes and killing indiscriminately.
“So far, we’ve counted 42 bodies, but many are still missing,” a soldier involved in the rescue operations told reporters.
Suleiman Joel, Chairman of the Munga Youth Forum, described the incident as a calculated extermination. “These are not isolated killings. People who returned to their homes based on security assurances have now been killed. What do we tell their families?” he asked.
Eyewitnesses and survivors shared harrowing accounts. “They came around 2am, shooting sporadically,” said Soja Emmanuel. “People jumped out of their homes into the bush. Some didn’t make it.”
During Saturday’s burial, the grief was palpable. Families wept openly as they laid their loved ones to rest. Community leader Augustine Munga, who lost two brothers, called for urgent government intervention. “The mass burial took place here in Munga Lalau and was conducted by soldiers and other security personnel,” he said.
Another resident, mourning the loss of four relatives, suggested the attackers were hired to terrorise the community. “We all slept in the bush yesterday. The sound of gunshots that rent the air was beyond conventional herdsmen,” he said, breaking down in tears.
Madam Sarah Bitrus, who lost her husband and two relatives, was too distraught to speak. “My world has ended,” she whispered through sobs.
Reacting to the tragedy, Taraba State Governor, Dr Agbu Kefas, condemned the attacks in the strongest terms, describing them as “carnage, horrendous and unacceptable.” In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Digital Communications, Emmanuel Bello, the governor vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice and promised increased security measures.
Governor Kefas urged residents to remain vigilant and share critical information with security agencies. “This level of aggression must not be allowed to continue. We need the full cooperation of our people to root out those behind these heinous acts,” he said.
James Lashen, the state’s acting Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the attacks and said operatives responded swiftly. “Our men responded promptly, and during the engagement, the attackers fled, abandoning a motorcycle. We recovered four bodies at the scene. There were no casualties among our men.”
Escalating Violence Across the North
The attack in Taraba is the latest in a series of brutal assaults that have plagued Nigeria’s northern region. According to media reports, more than 383 people have been killed across the North in the past month alone, with Plateau, Benue, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, Kano, and Taraba among the hardest hit.
One of the deadliest of these attacks occurred in Benue State, where 56 people were killed by suspected herdsmen in coordinated assaults between April 17 and 18. In Plateau State, 40 were killed in Zike community, Bassa Local Government Area. Just last Thursday, 57 people were slaughtered in Borno State by militants linked to Boko Haram’s Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad faction, with victims showing signs of execution-style killings.
As the death toll rises and communities continue to bury their dead, questions remain about the government’s capacity to stem the tide of violence. For the grieving families of Munga Lalau and Munga Doso, the scars left behind are unlikely to heal anytime soon.
