TheCable

At least six people were killed on Tuesday, when gunmen attacked Yelwata community in Guma LGA of Benue state.

Catherine Anene, spokesperson of the Benue police command, confirmed the incident to TheCable.

Anene said the gunmen came through the forest around 7pm.

She said six people were killed, while two other residents sustained injuries.

“At about 7pm, we received information that unknown gunmen attacked Yelwata community and attacked the first house nearest to the forest and opened fire,” Anene said.

“The policemen in Yelwata responded immediately and were able to repel them. But before then, they had shot the persons they met in the compound.

“Six persons were shot dead, while two were receiving treatment as of this morning. We want to assure the Yelwata community that we will continue to support them as we did yesterday.”

Anene, who expressed concern over the porous borders of Yelwata, added that more police officers will be deployed to cover the area in order to prevent a repeat of the incident.

“We have two police teams posted to Yelwata at the moment. There will be more deployment to cover all the loopholes that we have seen as a route where they created and came out from,” the police spokesperson said.

“Yelwata is very porous. It is a boundary area between Nasarawa and Benue. We will find a way to increase the number of policemen. No arrests have been made yet.”

The attack comes days after 13 people were said to have been killed when gunmen attacked some communities in Guma LGA.