GUNMEN have launched fresh attacks on two local government areas (LGAs) of Benue State.
The attack, which occurred in Apa and Agatu LGAs in the troubled state, reportedly left scores of people dead.
Media reports showed that in the EdikwG’Icho community in Apa LGA, three youths lost their lives when they were ambushed and killed.
Two of the victims were said to hail from Edikwu-Echo, and the third was from Ugbokpo.
In Agatu LGA, a native of Odejo, Sunday Dutse, was reportedly killed along the Odugbeho-Ogbaulu road.
Dutse, a younger brother to a former chairman of the local government, was reportedly sacked from his community during an earlier attack and had been taking refuge in Ogwule-Kaduna, also in Agatu LGA.
These attacks came shortly after top military leaders, including the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Olufemi Oluyede, visited the state and promised to restore peace.
The ICIR reports that following earlier deadly attacks on Gwer West and Apa LGAs, the COAS moved to the state in a strategic push to curb the escalating violence.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the COAS was accompanied by Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) and other senior army officials for an on-the-ground security assessment.
Oluyede had ordered additional deployment of troops and logistics to the state to pursue and dismantle criminal groups operating in the state.
According to Daily Trust, at least 270 people have been killed in the state in the last two months.
Meanwhile, The ICIR reported that the state Governor Hyacinth Alia alleged that some politicians serving in the National Assembly financed the recent attacks on the state.
The governor, however, did not name the politicians but hinted that an interim report from a judicial panel he set up revealed that many big names were involved.
He vowed to take up the matter as soon as he received the full report in the coming week.
Efforts to get detailed information concerning the recent attack were unsuccessful, as the spokesperson of the Benue State Police Command, Anene Sewuese, did not respond to messages and calls sent to her line over the killings.
A reporter with the ICIR
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