At least 70 members of a vigilante group were killed on Monday after bandits ambushed them at the Kukawa and Bunyun communities of Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Chairman of the vigilante group in Kukawa, Aliyu Baffa, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent, said the surprise attack on his team happened when a combined team of vigilantes from different formations in Wase LGA were on their way to identify bandits’ hideouts.

Narrating how the attack occurred, Baffa said the team ran into an ambush set up by the bandits who were armed with sophisticated weapons and opened fire on the team, killing over 70 of them on the spot.

The vigilante Chairman added that by the evening of the day, they had conducted a mass burial for the deceased, but feared there could still be more dead bodies in the bushes, as quite a number of his members are still missing and unaccounted for.

“The clash occurred just a kilometer away from the main Kukawa town, when the bandits ambushed the vigilante team as they were heading to a bandits’ hideout located in the government reserve forest popularly known as Madam Forest, which shares a border with Bauchi and Taraba States,” Baffa said.

“We have buried more than 70 in Kukawa alone but more bodies could likely be recovered from either side. Our men were overwhelmed by the bandits who carried superior weapons,” he added.

A resident of the Bunyun village, Musa Ibrahim, who also confirmed the incident in his community, said the bandits killed 10 vigilante members who were providing security in the area, and also razed many houses in the community.