At least four people have been confirmed dead and several others injured in separate attacks on communities in Apa and Agatu Local Government Areas of Benue State.
The coordinated assaults occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, along the Odugbeho-Ogbaulu Road in Agatu and in Edikwu ‘Icho and Ugbokpo, the headquarters of Apa LGA.
Among the victims was Sunday Dutse, a native of Odejo and younger brother to a former chairman of Agatu LGA. Dutse had reportedly been displaced by previous attacks from armed herders and had relocated to Ogwule-Kaduna in the same LGA. He was shot dead when the vehicle he was travelling in ran into an ambush on the Odugbeho-Ogbaulu Road.
A community source said:
“The attackers stopped the vehicle, pulled him out and shot him dead on the spot.”
In a related attack in Apa LGA, suspected armed herders reportedly killed three more people. Two youths were killed in Edikwu ‘Icho, while another youth was later killed in a separate assault on Ugbokpo.
The attacks have triggered fresh displacements as residents flee their homes, abandoning their farmlands during the peak farming season.
Efforts to reach the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Udeme Edet, for comment were unsuccessful as of press time.
