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100 killed in fresh Benue attacks

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Not less than 100 people have been reportedly killed by suspected bandits in four communities in Kastina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, according to Tertsea Benga, the spokesman for the Kastina-Ala council chairman.

Benga who raised the alarm in a statement on Monday, said the gunmen invaded the communties at the weekend and unleashed terror on the residents.

Benga said at the last count, over 100 dead bodies have been recovered, mostly in the bushes, from many villages in the four council wards where the gunmen attacked simultaneously between Saturday and Sunday.

Benga added that gunmen also stormed several communities in the Mbayongo council ward in Katsina-Ala where they burnt down houses.

The affected villages, according to Benga, were Vingir, Tse Nyipila and Tse Guji all in Mbayongo ward, adding that the attackers proceeded to Kenvanger in Mbatyula council ward after destroying the Mbayongo community.

“Half of the communities in one of the affected locality, Yooyo council ward in the same Katsina Ala LGA, had earlier been sacked by the armed invaders who killed many people then and in the latest invasion,” Benga said.

Also confirming the incident, the Chairman of Kastina-Ala LGA, Alfred Atera, while briefing journalists, blamed the attack on the collaboration between suspected armed herders and bandits loyal to the slain kingpin, Terwase Akwaza, popularly known as Gana, who was killed last year by soldiers.

“More than 100 people have been killed in different places.

READ ALSO: Gunmen kill nine in Benue community

“The attackers are a combination of armed herders and loyalists of the late Terwase Akwaza, alias Gana.

“They are killing and dropping people as they are going on their way. Some people were able to claim the corpses for burial.

“I told the military that the attackers have developed a strategy; they are not attacking one place.

“If they attack a place now, the next thing you hear is that they are in Yooyo and at the same time they are attacking Utange, so the military is going here and there.

“There is no military connivance, but I’m suspecting the existence of bandits here and I think they are trying to win cheap popularity,” Atera said.

By Isaac Dachen

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