Eight people killed in suspected terrorist attack in Benue

The police have confirmed that eight people were killed in a suspected terrorist attack on Sunday in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Cletus Nwadiogbu, the Commissioner of Police, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the victims included five adults and three children.

Mr Nwadiogbu said he spent most of Sunday in the affected communities with other security personnel to see what happened and help restore calm after angry youths blocked roads in protest.

"We have been in the interior since morning. The network was poor because we were in the bush," he said.

"Some people were killed and the youths became violent. We have been engaging them and they have now agreed to reopen the road. They are only waiting for water tankers to extinguish the fire."

The police commissioner called the incident "purely a terrorist attack" and said the attackers used guerrilla tactics by striking the communities before quickly fleeing into nearby forests.

"They operate in the guerrilla warfare style. Once they attack, they immediately disappear into the woods, making it difficult to apprehend them," he explained.

Mr Nwadiogbu said investigators were still trying to find out if this attack was connected to previous killings in the area.

"We cannot say for now whether it is connected to previous attacks or whether the terrorists simply wanted to achieve their aim," he added.

He assured residents that security agencies are stepping up efforts to track the attackers and stop further attacks.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that suspected armed herders attacked Akpachi village in Ugboju and Otukpo-Nobi communities between Saturday and Sunday, killing several residents and injuring many others.

The attacks led to protests as youths carried some of the victims' bodies to the Och’Idoma Palace, demanding urgent government action to stop the ongoing violence in Benue South.

After the attacks, Governor Hyacinth Alia condemned the killings, calling them "barbaric and inhuman". He directed security agencies to boost surveillance, pursue the perpetrators, and send more personnel to vulnerable communities.

The governor said the attacks were "a direct attempt to sabotage the progress of our state."

In response to the killings, Amnesty International urged Nigerian authorities to carry out an "independent, impartial and effective investigation" into the attacks on Otukpo-Nobi and Akpachi-Ugboju communities.

"The attacks have already been generating fear and panic across Otukpo LGA and beyond. Government must fulfill its main duty of protecting lives and property," the organization said in a statement.

Amnesty noted that the protests that followed showed that residents had "had enough" of the repeated killings and abductions.

"The fact that the protesters carried the victims' corpses to the Och’Idoma Palace to register their grievances is another sign that it is time to urgently end the bloodshed," it added.

The organization also shared that families of some victims told its researchers that several people remained missing after the attacks, while many others suffered serious injuries.

Amnesty warned that ongoing attacks on rural communities have worsened the humanitarian situation in Benue. It pointed out that hundreds of thousands of displaced persons are living in camps with poor access to water, food, sanitation, and healthcare.

It urged the authorities to protect lives and ensure that those responsible for the attacks are brought to justice.

This latest violence comes just three weeks after the killing of the Benue State Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Ardo Risku, and his associate, Yakubu Isah, who were ambushed and killed on June 26 while returning from a peace meeting in Ohimini Local Government Area.

Police later announced the arrest of suspects linked to the killing of the MACBAN chairman as investigations continued.

Residents of Otukpo have expressed fears that the latest attacks may have been in retaliation for that killing, but security agencies have not confirmed any connection between the two events.