A federal Senator and state lawmaker were killed in troubled Plateau state on Sunday as they attended the mass burial of victims killed in earlier attacks.

Senator Gyan Dantong representing the restive state, as well as Majority leader of the Plateau House of Assembly, Gyang Fulani, were gunned down as they paid their respects to the over 20 victims slain in village raids on Saturday.

Officials suspect Fulani herdsmen, also said to be behind Saturday’s attacks on villages in Riyom and Barkin Ladi, were behind Sunday’s murders.

Spokesman for Plateau State’s Governor Jonah Jang, Pam Ayuba, confirmed the incident, saying it took place shortly after the pair had attended the mass burial for the victims of Saturday’s raids.

According to reports, the Senator and lawmaker were at the home of a local leader in the state’s Gashis district, 56 miles from the capital of Jos, when the attack happened.

Ayuba said suspected Fulani herdsmen raided the house and “shot the politicians and some others, but the key people who lost their lives are the Senator and majority leader”.

The total number of casualties amassed from the attack is yet to be determined, Ayuba said, but added that another federal lawmaker present at the reception “escaped death by a whisker”.