Residents of Maraban-Foron of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State have reportedly deserted their homes following an alleged invasion of soldiers.

The soldiers are said to be members of a special task force (STF) deployed to keep peace in the community.

A source from the community told ThisDay that some soldiers, suspected to be members of the STF, invaded the community and started breaking into houses, beating up members of the community and terrorising the people with gunshots.

According to him, “As I speak with you, most of our villagers have fled to neighboring communities because of how the men of the STF have terrorised us. We cannot continue to remain and get tortured by the military.

“In fact, most of my relatives have relocated to Kuru. We are calling on the state government to intervene.”

Another resident of the community, Solomon Goje, said he wondered why the soldiers would search only the Berom community and leave out that of the Fulani, adding that the soldiers were biased.

Foron has become a tinderbox in recent times with three soldiers recently injured by gunshots during a clash between the Fulani and the natives.

As the two tribes trade blames on the cause of the recent hostility, acting national chairman of Berom Youth Moulders (BYM), Samson Tsok, has accused the Fulani of attacking and killing two of his kinsmen, while the Fulani leader, Mohammed Adamu, faulted the Berom for shooting and killing eight of their cows.

Adamu added that the herdsmen that were grazing the cattle were also killed.

Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong recently imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the Barkin Ladi and Riyom local government areas.