The police have confirmed that eight persons were killed in Sunday’s suspected terrorist attack on communities in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.
The Commissioner of Police, Cletus Nwadiogbu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the victims comprised five adults and three children.
Mr Nwadiogbu said he spent most of Sunday in the affected communities alongside other security personnel to assess the situation and 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 described the incident as “purely a terrorist attack” and said the assailants employed guerrilla tactics by attacking the communities before 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 said.
Mr Nwadiogbu said investigators were still working to determine whether the latest attack was linked 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 were intensifying efforts to track the attackers and prevent further attacks.
Earlier reports
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 triggered protests as youths carried some of the victims’ bodies to the Och’Idoma Palace, demanding urgent government action to end the recurring violence in Benue South.
Following the attacks, Governor Hyacinth Alia condemned what he described as “barbaric and inhuman” killings and directed security agencies to intensify surveillance, pursue the perpetrators and deploy additional personnel to vulnerable communities.
The governor said the attacks were “a direct attempt to sabotage the progress of our state.”
Amnesty demands investigation
Reacting to the killings, Amnesty International called on the Nigerian authorities to conduct 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 live up to its main obligation of protecting lives and property,” the organisation said in a statement.
Amnesty said the protests that followed the attacks showed that residents had “had enough” of recurring killings and abductions.
“The fact that the protesters carried the victims’ corpses to the Och’Idoma Palace to register their grievances is another indication that it is time to urgently end the bloodshed,” it said.
The organisation added that families of some victims told its researchers that several people remained missing after the attacks, while many others sustained serious injuries.
Amnesty also warned that continued attacks on rural communities had worsened the humanitarian situation in Benue, noting that hundreds of thousands of displaced persons were living in camps with inadequate 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.
READ ALSO: Suspected herders kill scores in Benue, weeks after MACBAN chiefs murder
The latest violence comes barely 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 26 June while returning from a peace meeting in Ohimini Local Government Area.
Police later announced the arrest of suspects in connection with the killing of the MACBAN chairman as investigations continued.
Residents of Otukpo have expressed fears that the latest attacks may have been carried out in reprisal for the killing, although security agencies have not established any link between the two incidents.
