Police reject claims of fresh gunmen killings in four Benue LGAs

The Benue police command has debunked reports of gunmen killing nearly a dozen people across four LGAs in the state.

Over the weekend, multiple local and international news outlets reported that gunmen carried out four separate attacks, killing at least 23 in Logo, Kwande, Ukum, and Guma LGAs.

The reports cited sources while the international platforms quoted a Red Cross official.

Sewuese Anene, Benue police spokesperson, told TheCable on Monday that the reports were false.

“That’s not true. Something happened somewhere in Taraba, we are not sure of the number of persons that died, so they brought the corpses back to the village so people thought it was an attack. It was not an attack.

“It was just a burial going on there.”

Anene said the deceased were indigenes of Jootar, Ukum which explained the burial in the LGA instead of Taraba where they were killed.

She, however, added that the police had received reports of two people shot dead on Friday after gunmen arrived at Ayilamo, Logo LGA, and started shooting sporadically.

Anene said police officers, alongside military personnel were already stationed in the area, leading to a repel of the attacks.

The Taraba police could not be immediately reached for comments. The command is also yet to issue a public statement on the issue.

Benue has buckled under the weight of insecurity in recent times, mostly triggered by farmer-herder conflicts.

Over 100 people have been killed in less than two months.

Hyacinth Alia, the state governor, blamed foreign elements for the killings.