A quiet morning turned into a nightmare in Tse Ajogo, Wukari LGA of Taraba State, where 17 returning Internally Displaced Persons were shot and killed in a violent attack that unfolded around 6 a.m. on Wednesday.
Witnesses who fled by sheer luck described a horrifying scene indiscriminate gunfire, families running for cover, and a village once rebuilding its life now plunged back into chaos.
Eight people sustained injuries, several residents remain missing, and seven houses were set ablaze, deepening the tragedy for a community already battling displacement. Tse Ajogo, just four kilometres from Rafin Kada, has now recorded its second attack in less than two months.
Eyewitnesses Bernard Atom Atoo Tyokongu and Mwuese Gesa recounted that the attackers stormed in at dawn, shooting at anyone they saw.
“So far, we have discovered 17 of our people dead. Many are missing. Eight are injured, and we’re taking them to a nearby hospital,” they said.
They claimed the assault was carried out by a combined group of Fulani fighters and Jukun youths, some of whom they recognised.
The Chairman of the Tiv Cultural and Social Association, Wukari Chapter, Aondowase Tor-Orshi, also confirmed the attack, marking yet another chapter in the region’s long, painful cycle of ethnic tension and violence.
The community, already scarred by years of displacement, is once again left to count its dead and search for its missing, a grim reminder of how fragile peace remains in parts of Taraba.
