By HOPE ABAH EMMANUEL, Makurdi

Gunmen have killed a traditional ruler and seven other people during a midnight invasion of Tse-Ancha community in Makurdi Local Government of Benue State.

Tse-Ancha community sits less than a kilometre from Abagena IDPs Camp where gunmen killed seven people in an attack about three weeks ago.

The latest attack on the community came shortly after the seven killed on the camp for displaced persons were interred on Friday.

Chairman of Makurdi Local Government Area, Anthony Dyegeh, told newsmen in Makurdi by telephone that the incident happened at 11:55 pm and that eight people were killed in the attack.

Dyegeh, who blamed the attack on suspected armed herders, said the victims of the fresh killings included seven men and one woman whose dead bodies were recovered from the scene of the attack.

The chairman, who was returning from the scene of the attack at the time of this report, said five other locals were badly injured and have been taken to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) in Makurdi for treatment.

“It happened around 11:55 pm and eight people were killed and five injured and they have been taken to a teaching hospital. Among those killed is the kindred head of the village.

“The Kindred Head was among the people that accompanied me yesterday (Friday) to the burial of the seven people that were killed at Abagena IDP camp.

“We parted around 9.00 pm only for him to be killed at five minutes to midnight alongside others,” he said.

Dyegeh narrated that an ATM card bearing Audullayi Sabo with life and empty bullets were picked at the scene of the attack just as he had directed the evacuation of corpses to the mortuary and the injured to the hospital.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Anene, confirmed the attack. (Daily Trust)

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