Herders Kill Scores In Two~Day Rampage In Benue
Several residents are feared dead following coordinated attacks on Yelwata and Daudu communities in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Kula Tersoo, preliminary reports from security agencies confirmed that 45 people were killed in the assaults, which began on Friday night and lasted into the early hours of Saturday.
Tersoo said, “The police report available to us indicates that 45 individuals lost their lives in the Yelwata attack.”
However, a community leader in Yelwata and former aide to ex-Governor Samuel Ortom, Matthew Mnyan, claimed the death toll was significantly higher. He said about 200 people, including five security personnel, were killed.
Speaking to journalists via telephone on Saturday, Mnyan alleged that the attackers were armed herders who stormed the community around 11pm on Friday.
He said, “It was a coordinated attack; some Fulani terrorists came from the western part of the Yelwata and started shooting and by the time policemen and young people tried to engage them, another group came from the eastern part of the community. They overran those trying to resist them.
“They killed people; you know some people do sleep in their stalls. They poured petrol on their stalls in the market and burnt them.
“In those stalls, we had people who moved from places like Branch Udei and people displaced from nearby villages, who slept in the stalls because of the proximity to the police and soldiers there.
“As of now, from the names they are putting together, and families that were burnt and killed are running to over 200. They killed and burnt people in their houses. They will pour petrol and burn the whole place where people are sleeping.
“We have a family of 15, some families of 12, men with their two wives, children and every one of them were burnt. It is a terrible sight.”
Mnyan said the community was putting the names of victims together, noting that many were burnt beyond recognition.
According to him, out of the 46 residents rushed to a hospital, 20 died.
“This was an unprovoked attack. It was planned. For over one week, we received reports from Nasarawa State that the terrorists planned to attack Yelwata, Ukoho, Ortese, Yogbo and Daudu. So, they are moving to attack these places simultaneously.
“Fortunately that same yesterday (Friday), the ones at Daudu were dislodged while some security men, including soldiers, were killed,
“Women, children and toddlers were murdered in cold blood. Children had their necks slitted and killed like animals.
“We had wanted to move all the corpses to the road, but I recalled that there was a time we did that and three persons were killed by security personnel,” he added.
6/15/2025, 8:57:07 AM
views 14486
6649