Suspected herdsmen kill 10 in fresh attack on Benue communities

SAVAGE attack on communities in Benue State continued on Tuesday night, this time in Ukum and Agatu local councils, where five persons each were killed by different sets of suspected Fulani herdsmen, who also destroyed property worth millions of naira.

   The attacks were coming barely a day after the marauders attacked some villages in Logo local council, including Governor Gabriel Suswam’s Anyiin hometown, where 30 people were reported killed.

   The Guardian learnt that the killers invaded Tiv settlements, including Vaase community, when the people were already asleep, shot in the air to scare the people away before setting their houses ablaze.

   Vaase is one of the populous areas in Ukum local council, which was invaded by the military in 2001 during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, when scores were lined up and killed.

   Confirming the current attack on Vaase, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP John Bako, said he was not sure of the casualty figure and that nobody has briefed him yet on the attack in Agatu local council.

   Similarly, a clash between two rival cult groups in on Tuesday at Naka, headquarters of Gwer-West local council, left four persons dead. The Guardian learnt that the sudden death of a member of one of sects triggered a reprisal attack by the rival group, resulting to the death of three others.

   Confirming this, Bako said investigation was ongoing and that two locally-made pistols were recovered at the scene of the incident.