Gunmen kill 18 in Benue, Nasarawa communities

Multiple attacks by gunmen on Benue and Nasarawa communities have left 18 persons dead and property destroyed.

On Tuesday, about 13 persons were reportedly killed when gunmen attacked some communities in the Guma council area in Benue.

The assailants also attacked the Torkula community, it was said.

Caleb Abs, chairman of the Guma council said about 13 people were killed in both attacks.

“It is true that there was an attack yesterday. There was a burial in Torkula and people coming back from the burial came under attack and about five people were killed,” he said.

“About 10 pm yesterday, there was another attack at Branch Ude where about eight people were killed.

“Two people were injured according to the information I received, and they are now receiving treatment in the hospital.”

In Nasarawa, police confirmed that five Tiv farmers were killed by suspected herdsmen.

The attack took place at Gidan Sule village in Keana Local Government Areas of the state in the early hours of yesterday.

The killings were confirmed in a press statement issued to journalists in Lafia by the Nasarawa State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Ramhan Nansel.

According to the Nasarawa State Command’s PPRO, “on 21/7/2021 at about 2300hrs, information was received that unknown gunmen, while shooting sporadically, attacked a particular Compound at Gidan Sule Village along Lafia- Makurdi road.

“Upon receipt of the information, a detachment of Police Personnel comprising of Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Unit, Vigilante and Hunters, with support from the Military were immediately deployed to the area where the attackers were repelled.

"He continued that four corpses were recovered at the scene, while three injured victims were rescued and rushed to Odumu Hospital for Medical attention; one person later died while receiving treatment at the same hospital.

“Consequently, the Commissioner of Police, Nasarawa State, Bola Longe, who was recently promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, has deployed additional Police Personnel led by Area Commander Awe, ACP Dankwano D. Wilson to go after the perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring them to book,” the statement read.

Speaking to journalists in Lafia, the president of Tiv Development Association (TIDA), Peter Ahemba, linked the unprovoked attack on his kinsmen to suspected Fulani herdsmen who retaliated an attack on them (Fulani herdsmen) in Benue State on Tiv people of Nasarawa State.

Ahemba, however, said he was in talking terms with the Nasarawa State Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association Nigeria (MACBAN) to bring to book culprits involved in the unprovoked killings of persons in Gidan Sule village of Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.