Barely two weeks after the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Olufemi Oluyede, moved to Benue State to stem violence in the state, terrorists on Friday attacked the refugee town of Yelwata in the Guma LGA, killing more than 100 people.
Residents described the carnage as the most deadly invasion by armed men since 2009, when they started experiencing terror attacks.
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The assailants, believed to be Fulani militia, arrived in the town’s market square around 10 p.m. on 13 June, two residents told PREMIUM TIMES Saturday evening.
“While some of them were shooting sporadically, others macheted people,” Achin Mathias, a survivor of the attack said. “Most of the victims are displaced persons from other villages who were taking refuge inside stores in the market square.”
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The terrorists also set stores and houses ablaze. Mr Mathias said more than 100 bodies have been recovered, “while others were burnt beyond recognition.”
He added that properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed in the attack that lasted for two hours without security intervention.
Yelwata shares a border with Nasarawa State, where a military airstrike in 2023 killed scores of herders who were offloading cattle from a truck after they were recovered from officials of the Benue Livestock Guard who had seized them.
The area has experienced many violent attacks since that incident.
Police confirm attack
The Benue Police Command confirmed the latest attack in a statement. The spokesperson for the command, Udeme Edet, said: “The Police and Tactical Teams posted to the town and reinforcement responded swiftly to the attack and engaged the attackers in a fierce exchange, and some of the attackers were killed in the process.”
“But it is with great sadness that we report that some individuals lost their lives and others sustained injuries,” he continued. “The police, however, have not relented and are still in pursuit of the attackers and will continue to keep everyone safe.”
Violence in Benue
Like other states in the North-central, Benue is suffering from violent attacks, many of which are fallouts from years-long farmers-herders conflict.
More than 800 people were killed and nearly 400 others were kidnapped in the state in the last two years, according to data obtained from Armed Conflict Event and Location Data (ACLED)
READ ALSO: Benue Killings: Nigerian Army chief, other senior officers move to Benue
Earlier this month, the army boss, Mr Oluyede, moved to Benue following the killing of about 270 people across the state in just two months.
Mr Oluyede, a lieutenant-general who arrived in the state with some top military officers, held a closed-door meeting with Governor Hyacinth Alia at the Government House in Makurdi. Thereafter, he visited some affected communities.
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