Suspected armed herdsmen Thursday night reportedly attacked the Abagena community which hosts Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs on the outskirts of Makurdi town, killing a family of six and two IDPs.
I gathered that the marauders who left several persons with gunshot wounds also beheaded some of the victims.
The lasted incident came less than two years after a similar attack in the same community in April 2021 claimed seven lives while scores sustained bullet and machete wounds.
Abagena community has been home to victims of armed herders incursions in Benue state since the 2018 New Year’s day massacre in Guma and Logo LGAs that claimed the lives of close to 100 persons including women and children.
A local source in the area who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that the marauders stormed the community directly opposite the gate of the camp at about 9pm and started shooting sporadically.
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He said “people were already preparing to go to bed when everyone started hearing gunshots. They ran, but those they caught up with were killed and butchered while some were beheaded and their heads were taken away.
“As we speak there is tension in the area, people are fleeing their homes but the fear is that the youths of the area might take over the busy Makurdi-Lafia road to protest the herder’s killings which have been going on for some time now in our communities since the coming of the dry season.”
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Reacting to the development, Special Adviser to Governor Samuel Ortom on Security Matters, Colonel Paul Hemba (retd.), who described the development as sad, confirmed that two IDPs and a family of six were killed in the attack. He said it took place at about 9 pm, adding that women and children were among those killed while the injured had been moved to the hospital for medical care.
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