THE Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has arrested six suspects following a deadly ambush on its tactical teams in Benue State that claimed the lives of three officers and left seven others missing.
Force Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin, in a statement on Sunday, September 21, confirmed that the attack occurred on Friday, September 19, at the Agu Centre in the Katsina-Ala and Ukum Local Government Areas.
According to Hundeyin, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Innocent Emenari, is leading a search and rescue operation to locate the missing operatives. He said those arrested were already assisting investigators.
“The arrested suspects are in custody and assisting with useful information. Equally, the IGP has directed the deployment of additional tactical assets to the area and assured that no stone will be left unturned in restoring peace and security in Benue State,” the NPF stated.
Local accounts, however, suggest higher casualties. The chairman of Katsina-Ala Local Government, Shaku Justine, told reporters that at least 11 security personnel were feared dead in the incident, with only three bodies recovered as of Sunday.
He said two patrol vehicles used by the operatives were burnt, while eyewitnesses alleged that the attackers, in their hundreds, overwhelmed the security team.
While security forces continue operations in Katsina-Ala, another incident heightened tensions in Benue State. In the early hours of Monday, September 22, gunmen reportedly assassinated an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Ejeh Udeh, at his residence in Ugboju, Otukpo Local Government Area.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers, who rode on motorcycles, waited for Udeh to return home before opening fire on him in front of his family. His body has been deposited at the Otukpo General Hospital morgue.
The ICIR reported that insecurity in Benue has grown geometrically over the past years.
In June, the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, announced the arrest of 26 suspects in connection with the killing of scores of people in Yelwata area of the state.
Egbetokun, while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, June 24, stated that 28 suspects were initially arrested over the attack, but two were cleared, as they were merely decoys used to apprehend the 26 suspected masterminds behind the killings.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu visited the state after the Yelwata killings and ordered service chiefs and the IGP to arrest those behind the attack.
The ICIR reports that killings in the state have spanned several years, and more than 200 residents reportedly died in the onslaughts in June this year alone.
While some blame cropper-herders’ conflict for the carnage, others label the assailants as foreign terrorists.
The Tor Tiv, James Ayatse, a professor who spoke during Tinubu’s visit, dismissed claims that the killings were the product of clashes between herders and farmers.
Ayatse said they were “a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign.
He added, “What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign by herder terrorists and bandits, which has been going on for decades and is worsening every year.”
A reporter with the ICIR
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