Attackers kill couple, three-year-old daughter

A father, mother and their three-year-old daughter were killed by unknown attackers at Wereng village of Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau Tuesday night, police said.

The couple, Philip Francis and Simi, as well as daughter Nera, died of machete cuts inflicted on them by the invaders who attacked their family house around 11.00 p.m., according to the police.

The attackers fled thereafter.

The Plateau Police Commissioner, Emmanuel Ayeni, who confirmed the incident, however, declined to give further details.

“I do not have the details as yet; we have just finished discussions with the Chairman of Riyom Local Government on the matter. I am still waiting for more details from the Divisional Police Officer of Riyom Local Government,’’ he said.

Mr. Ayeni pledged to investigate the killings once the details were made available.

Wycliff Wanson, Chairman, Riyom LGA, who spoke on the attack, expressed sadness at the resort to ‘guerilla warfare’ on his peace-loving people.

“I am particularly sad because as I am talking to you now, there is no trace of the attackers and no arrest has been made. This is just one of so many of such attacks in my Council over the past years,” he said.

Mr. Wanson called for stringent efforts to check the trend otherwise ‘we will wake up one day and discover that a whole village is wiped out’.

“It is more dreadful because the attacks are targeted at individual families. We cannot continue to live in this state of siege in Riyom,’’ he said.