An Operation Rainbow officer and three mourners, including two women, are killed in daylight attacks in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, as BYM President Dalyop Mwantiri narrowly escapes an ambush he says signals a dangerous new phase of violence.
Barkin Ladi, Plateau State — September 23, 2026
Gunmen killed at least four people in two separate daylight attacks in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State on Tuesday, including a security operative attached to Operation Rainbow and three mourners gathered for a funeral, while the President of the Berom Youth Moulders Association (BYM) narrowly escaped an ambush along the same road.
Security operatives attached to Operation Rainbow, Plateau's state-backed security outfit, were ambushed while travelling along Gagshi Road, resulting in the death of one personnel.
A security operative who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the attack, saying: "We just experienced an ambush in which a security personnel attached to Operation Rainbow was killed," adding that the incident occurred at around 4 p.m.
BYM President Barr. Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri confirmed the ambush and disclosed that he had narrowly avoided being caught up in it himself. "I would have also been involved in that incident if not that God, out of His mercy, saved me," he said.
Mwantiri described the attack as evidence that Plateau's security crisis was entering a more dangerous phase, noting that violence was no longer confined to nighttime hours.
"This security challenge has entered another level. This thing is taking a bigger dimension," he said. "This will not be night attack again. This will not be even during daytime."
He condemned the attacks and appealed to security operatives to remain vigilant and continue protecting communities despite the risks, urging authorities not to relent in efforts to restore peace to affected areas.
In a separate, seemingly related incident, three people were killed in broad daylight at Rakok, also known as Kafi Abu, in Barkin Ladi LGA. Community source Lawrence Gyang said one man and two unidentified women were killed while attending the funeral of two people who had themselves been killed the previous day while travelling to Gashish District. According to Gyang, the victims were among mourners gathered for the burial when gunmen struck.
Taken together, the two incidents brought Tuesday's reported death toll in Barkin Ladi to four, adding to what residents describe as a rapidly worsening pattern in the LGA, one in which even a funeral for previous victims became the site of fresh killings.
The attacks add to an already brutal month for Barkin Ladi, which recorded the killing of five labourers near Gana-Ropp and a pastor near Dorowa Babuje just weeks earlier, alongside the evacuation of women and children from Dorowa Bubuje amid sustained gunfire from the Kantoma area.
The recurrence of daylight, funeral-targeting violence in Kafi Abu, the same area where a soldier-led operation arrested three suspects after the killing of 17-year-old Peter Gyang last month, suggests the security response so far has not been sufficient to break the cycle of attacks and reprisals gripping the LGA.
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