Piano market in Pinau community of Wase local government area of Plateau State was on Sunday evening invaded by unknown gunmen who killed about seven persons.
The gunmen also injured many villagers during the attack.
The attackers stormed the market while buying and selling were going on.
Newsmen recall that on December 8, residents of some villages complained about the influx of bandits in some of the villages of Wase LGA causing suspicion on their movement.
The residents who expressed fear also alleged that there were informants within communities working with the bandits to give them information about the area.
The Wase youth leader, Shapi’i Sambo, while confirming the latest attack which led to the loss of lives described the incident as barbaric and unfortunate.
He explained that the gunmen invaded the market and started shooting sporadically causing a lot of destruction in the area.
A source further explained that the area in the last 10 days have witnessed the invasion of gunmen and abduction of many people as well as the payment of ransom.
“The bandits collect ransom in millions. Sometimes they collect N2 million and sometimes N5 million. Last three days, they collected N5 million before releasing a man who they abducted some days back,” he stated.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Ubah Gabriel, did not respond to calls put through to him over the development.