Nigeria — Gunmen have killed 17 people including two police officers in an attack in central Nigeria’s Benue state, police said Friday.
The attackers, known locally as bandits, opened fire in Ayati village on Thursday, they said — the latest flare-up of intercommunal violence in the region.
Benue police spokeswoman Anene Sewuese Catherine said that at around 4.30 pm (1530 GMT) “a large number of armed bandits invaded the village and started shooting sporadically at members of the community”.
They shot dead 15 people and then killed two police officers who were responding to the attack.
I’m a serving Corp member in Ukum Local Government in benue state.
We are patiently waiting for when NYSC gives us the green light to go back home! These incidents are becoming too frequent and closer. Ayati village is not far from the major town zakibiam where we are all at! https://t.co/OUowaFCKES— Abdussalaam Abdussalaam. A (@ABS_Of_Unilorin) August 10, 2024
“Corpses have been deposited at General Hospital Ukum and investigation is ongoing,” she said in a statement.
Sewuese Catherine said the gunmen had been attempting “to resist ongoing operations”.
She did not give details but told AFP the attackers had “left with their dead and injured.”
Benue’s Ukum area has been in the grip of a long-running conflict, where officials say scores of people have been killed.
Gov. Hyacinth Alia of Benue has expressed sadness over another unprovoked attack on Ayati Village in Ukum Local Government Area, where many people were reportedly killed.
Alia, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sir Tersoo Kula, madehttps://t.co/byfnTKhtOE pic.twitter.com/oduqY098ta
— News HQ (@MyNewsHQ) August 10, 2024
Clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farmers over land use are common in central Nigeria, and in places the attacks have taken on an ethnic and religious dimension.
Sewuese Catherine said police commissioner Hassan Steve Yabanet had said more teams had been sent to the area to tackle the bandits.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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