No fewer than 13 persons are reportedly dead and one other injured in two separate attacks by suspected armed herdsmen in communities of Agatu and Gwer West Local Government Areas, LGAs, of Benue State.
In the attacks, 12 persons were said to have been killed Sunday evening by the herdsmen in Egwuma village in Agatu LGA, while another was murdered at Tse Iyo in Sengev Council Ward of Gwer West LGA, same Sunday evening, where one person was wounded.
Five others are reportedly missing.
The lawmaker representing Agatu State Constituency, Mr. Godwin Edoh, who confirmed the attacks, said the victims were killed when the armed herders attacked the village Sunday evening.
He bemoaned the incessant attacks on his constituents by armed herdsmen and urged the government to take decisive action to end the mindless killings.
He said, “12 people were killed in the attack. We are tired and the problem is still there that is why I am complaining. Government has to be decisive about what to do about the area.
“The communities are so porous. Ogbumogbo, Ejima and all those areas down to Ikpele, those villages have been deserted for close to one year. So it is like a colony of herdsmen.
“What they do is that they come over with their cattle’s from morning and they stay there to graze until they want to go back.
“And they come back there any time because the people have left the villages and nothing is being done about it.”
Meanwhile in Gwer West, a youth leader and survivor of the attack in Tse Iyo who narrowly escaped death, Cheghza Igbasue said they were ambushed by the armed me while on their way from the farm.
A source in the area said, “the armed herders attacked and killed 30 year old Ikyumbu Aondowase while 45 years old Mr. Achin Terzungwe was badly wounded and taken to Naka the LGA headquarters for treatment.
“He explained that they were coming back from the farm to Agagbe through Tse Iorbogo, not knowing that the armed herders had laid ambush on the bad portion of the road and were waiting for who to killed.
“They started shooting as soon as they got close, Mr Ikyumbu Aondoawase was killed and Achin Terzungwe was badly wounded and five other people went missing after the attack.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene however confirmed that five persons were killed in the Agatu attack, saying she was yet to receive details of the Gwer West attack.
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