Armed Invaders Storm Benue Village, Kill 6 Villagers, 3 Soldiers Injured

 

Armed Invaders Storm Benue Village, Kill 6 Villagers, 3 Soldiers Injured

The Nigerian Military has confirmed that armed invaders attacked the Ikobi community of Apa Local Government Area (LGA) in Benue State, killing six villagers, with three soldiers injured in the process.

According to one of the locals, soldiers of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) stationed at Agagbe responded to a distress call and during the process, they had encountered armed invaders at Tse-Abwa, Mbapa council ward in Gwer West LGA.

Another local said the soldiers had on Saturday responded to the distress call when Ikobi community in Apa LGA was under invasion, adding that the soldiers repelled the attackers but were later ambushed on their way back to Agagbe on Sunday at Mbapa council ward of Gwer West LGA.

“The incident occurred in the communities bordering both Apa and Gwer West LGAs,” he stated.

Another resident of Ikobi in his submission averred that six persons were killed by the armed invaders in the community at the weekend while a few others were still missing. He further added that four of the deceased were killed on Saturday while the other two were killed two days earlier.

“On the 2nd of February, armed invaders macheted a man called Usman Ochowechi in his farm close to his village of Oloke in Ikobi and they sent him a message that he should tell the Ikobi people that they are coming, which they did, attacking and killing two persons.

“Miss Eba Usman was still missing on the 3rd of February in Ikobi Ochekwu, Apa LGA. They came back again on 4th February and killed four persons in the same Ikobi. The deceased are Edeh Baba, Innocent Owoicho, Ochekpe Ajekpa and Abugbe.”


Abu Umoru,  a lawmaker representing Apa constituency at the State House of Assembly, while confirmed the killings to Channels Television’s correspondent on the telephone.

“It’s a confirmed story, suspected herders invaded the Ikobi community and so far, six lives have been lost within the past four days. They could be more. We had to put a call through to OPWS and the commander has mobilised soldiers to the community.

“People have fled their homes so we can’t even know the exact number of casualties for now,” Umoru said.



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