Eight people have been killed and two injured by gunmen suspected to herdsmen during an attack in Yelwata town in the Guma local government area of Benue State The hoodlums during the rampage that took place around 6 pm on Tuesday abducted some person after killing and inflating wounds on about 10 indigenes.
As disclosed by the council chairman of Guma, Caleb Aba, the attackers invaded the community on Yelwata market day while still in business for the day opened fire bringing about the said incident.
“Yesterday (Tuesday) was Yelwata market day and the people were still in the market around 6 pm when the herdsmen came and started shooting sporadically. In the end, eight people were killed, two injured and one person who was abducted is yet to be released till now,” he stated.
Moreso, the spokesperson of the Benue Police command Catherine Anene has confirmed the unfortunate incident, she quote.
“At about 7 pm, we received information that unknown gunmen attacked Yelwata community and attacked the first house nearest to the forest and opened fire,” Anene said.
“The policemen in Yelwata responded immediately and were able to repel them. But before then, they had shot the persons they met in the compound.
“Six persons were shot dead, while two were receiving treatment as of this morning. We want to assure the Yelwata community that we will continue to support them as we did yesterday
“We have two police teams posted to Yelwata at the moment. There will be more deployment to cover all the loopholes that we have seen as a route where they created and came out from,” the police spokesperson said.
“Yelwata is very porous. It is a boundary area between Nasarawa and Benue. We will find a way to increase the number of policemen. No arrests have been made yet.”
