JOS — Tension has mounted in Gero community, Gyel District of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, following the murder of two women by suspected gunmen in an early-morning attack.
The incident sparked immediate protests on Monday as aggrieved residents, predominantly women and youth, took to the streets to demonstrate against rising insecurity and perceived intelligence failures in protecting farming communities within the local government area.
The demonstrators blocked major access routes leading into the community, carrying green tree leaves and chanting mournful songs as they demanded an immediate security overhaul and the arrest of the perpetrators.
Early-Morning Ambush Triggers Outcry
According to community sources, the victims were targeted on their way to farm plots on the outskirts of Gero. Armed assailants operating from nearby bushes reportedly opened fire at close range, killing both women on the spot before fleeing into surrounding hills.
The gunshots alerted nearby residents, who rushed to the scene only to find the victims motionless in pools of blood.
The deaths have reactivated deep fears across Jos South, an area that has experienced recurring agrarian friction, nighttime raids, and targeted ambushes against rural commuters and farmers over recent months.
Demonstrators Block Roads, Demand Permanent Patrols
The killings prompted an immediate shutdown of commercial activities in the village as angry youth and women set up makeshift barricades along the Gero-Rayfield axis.
Community leaders and youth representatives addressed responding security personnel, expressing frustration over what they described as delayed response times despite repeated warnings regarding suspicious movements around surrounding ridges.
“Our women cannot go to their farms in peace, and our young men are living in constant fear of ambush,” a protester stated. “We are tired of coming out only to gather corpses. We want static military checkpoints stationed along the farmland corridors.”
Security Operations Underway
Joint teams of military personnel attached to Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) and operatives of the Plateau State Police Command were deployed to the area to prevent a breakdown of law and order and restore traffic flow along the blocked corridors.
Security officials confirmed that tactical teams have been dispatched to comb the surrounding bushes and transit routes to track down the fleeing assailants.
While urging the community to remain calm and refrain from reprisal attacks or taking the law into their own hands, state security authorities reassured residents that intelligence gathering has been intensified to identify those responsible for the killings.
