Benue: Yelwata residents protest as gunmen kill 3 on farmland

At least three people were killed and three others injured by gunmen in the early hours of Monday at Yelwata community, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. The latest attack occurred barely two months after over 100 residents were massacred in the same rural community by assailants. Locals said the victims in Monday’s attack […]

At least three people were killed and three others injured by gunmen in the early hours of Monday at Yelwata community, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

The latest attack occurred barely two months after over 100 residents were massacred in the same rural community by assailants.

Locals said the victims in Monday’s attack were from the same family that lost 19 members during the June 13 killings in Yelwata.

The incident triggered angry residents to block the Makurdi-Lafia Highway in protest.

A protester, Maria Ihom, said the military was not doing enough to protect them, hence the blockade to draw the government’s attention to their plight.

Achii Mathias, the Yelwata youth leader, told journalists by phone that the attack happened between 7 and 7.30am.

He alleged the attackers might have slept within the community to strike so early, noting that residents laid the victims’ bodies on the road in protest despite President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to security agencies to curb such violence.

Chief Dennis Gbongbon, President of United Farmers Benue Valley and a resident, said the armed men stormed the area early Monday, killing three people and leaving the community mourning.

Yelwata’s village head, Zaki Julius Joor, confirmed the victims were members of the same family that suffered 19 deaths in the June massacre.

A military source, speaking unofficially, said troops responded to a distress call and confronted the attackers, but noted that the killings occurred outside Yelwata.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Udeme Edet, in a Monday evening statement, confirmed the deaths, saying the victims were attacked while farming.

She explained that at about 5am, suspected armed herders attempted to invade Udei town in Guma LGA but were repelled by police tactical units.

“Unfortunately, when security units pursued them into the forest, they discovered that some farmers had already been attacked. Three sustained serious injuries and were taken to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, while three others were confirmed dead,” Edet said.

Following the June massacre in Yelwata, President Tinubu directed security chiefs to end the killings and arrest perpetrators.

Security agencies in Benue said numerous arrests had been made in the past two months, with suspects already facing trial.

Just last week, troops of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) rescued 11 kidnapped victims-four women and seven men-during raids on bandits’ hideouts along the Benue-Taraba border.