One person was shot in the previous attack, according to local sources.
The Plateau State Police Command has arrested a man believed to be the mastermind behind Tuesday’s massacre in Bin-Per community, Kombun District of Mangu Local Government Area, which left 25 people dead and four others injured.
The suspect is accused of orchestrating the attack that devastated the community in the early hours of Tuesday.
The arrest follows a pledge by newly appointed Commissioner of Police Ayodeji Faniyan, who visited the community during an on-the-spot security assessment and vowed that all those responsible would be identified, arrested and prosecuted, deploying every constitutional means available to bring perpetrators to justice.
He also delivered a condolence message from Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu and urged residents to remain calm and vigilant rather than resort to reprisal attacks, warning that jungle justice would only escalate tensions and undermine the pursuit of those responsible.
Tuesday’s assault was executed with chilling precision.
Heavily armed attackers parked their motorcycles some distance from the village and entered covertly, dispersing into different homes where they used daggers and other weapons on sleeping residents — a departure from earlier raids in the area that were typically accompanied by gunfire.
Security sources say the attackers appeared to have pre-selected which houses to target. Eyewitness Daniel Musa said the assailants moved from house to house, forcing open doors and killing residents as they slept, with the death toll climbing through the morning as more bodies were discovered and several people remained unaccounted for.
The killing marks a disturbing escalation in a community already under siege.
It is the third attack recorded in Mangu within a single week — coming less than a week after three people were killed amid rising tensions between Fulani and Mwaghavul communities, who had traded accusations of arson, and after a separate incident in which one person was shot. The Plateau State House of Assembly has since revised the toll upward, with lawmaker Dr. Matthew Sylvester Kwarpo telling the House that the same overnight assault also struck Jwak and Murish communities in Mangu Halle District, with the Bin-Per attack alone claiming 25 lives, at least 38 houses burnt, and farmland and stored grain destroyed.
The violence has triggered visible community anguish and organised response.
Women from Bin-Per staged a peaceful protest, marching with leaves raised above their heads to demand urgent government protection, ahead of a mass burial for the victims.
The Mwaghavul Youth Movement condemned the killings and called for a transparent investigation, describing the attack as part of a recurring pattern of security failures that has left Mangu’s residents vulnerable despite repeated military and police operations in the area, with thousands displaced and farmland destroyed over recent years.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang has directed security agencies to intensify surveillance and patrols across Bin Mper, Kombun District and other vulnerable communities in Mangu LGA, urging residents to share credible, timely information to help identify further suspects.
