Fresh blood has stained the highways of Plateau State following a brutal, late-night ambush that left at least nine passengers dead and several others critically wounded at Dungus Junction in Kuru community, Jos South Local Government Area .
The horror unfolded around 9:40 p.m. on Sunday , when a commercial passenger bus heading toward Jos made a brief stop at the junction to drop off commuters. According to local accounts, armed men materialized out of the dark and opened vicious, sustained gunfire directly into the vehicle, turning the bus into a blood-soaked metal trap.
- Escalating Weekend Carnage: The Jos South strike was not an isolated incident. Coordinated and suspected terrorist attacks struck simultaneously across other flashpoints in the state—including Vodni in Pushit District (Mangu LGA) and Tahoos (Riyom LGA)—pushing the total death toll across the weekend’s onslaught to at least 15 lives.
- Fallen Security Personnel: Among those confirmed dead at the Dungus Junction massacre was a member of Operation Rainbow, the state-backed security and vigilance outfit.
- Heartbreak in Bukuru: Lawan Suleiman, a local teacher who mourned the driver, Ibrahim—a former student—noted that at least three of the slaughtered passengers hailed tightly from the nearby Bukuru community as grieving families rushed to retrieve bodies from the morgue.
While survivors battle gunshot wounds in local hospitals, the Plateau State Police Command has yet to release an official tactical response or statement as panic sweeps rural and commercial transport corridors. With the “ember months” traditionally triggering spikes in highway banditry and communal friction, commuters are left staring down a terrifying question: Who watches the road?
