Many killed as gunmen raid Ebonyi community

Many persons were killed when gunmen attacked Egedegede community in Íshíelu local government area of Ebonyi State on Monday evening.

However, a priest serving with Methodist church, whose name is yet to be ascertained, was among those killed.

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Most of those killed were identified as farmers, motorcyclists and travellers.

Many of the corpses found were seen with bullets wounds, and deep machete cuts on the forehead, hands and some other parts of their bodies.

At the time of filing this report, many have been declared missing in the village.

The council chairman of the area, Hon. Sunday Eze, confirmed the tragic news.

Daily Trust gathered that the news of the ugly incident caused Governor David Umahi to cut short the usual state security council meeting which usually starts by 2pm.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Aliyu Garba, is yet to officially comment on the incident, the deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations has been dispatched to the area.

However, in an interview with Daily Trust on Tuesday, Mr. Vincent Ogbu, a former councillor, said the incident happened around 6:30 to 7pm on Monday.

Ogbu stated that women and children were leaving the village to their neighboring communities for fear of further attacks.

His words: “Many people were killed and as I speak with you many of them had their heads and hands cut off, their eyes removed, it is a horrible scene to behold.

“And as I said we have recovered not less than 27 dead bodies although we are still searching for more because many people are still missing.

“Again, many people we don’t even know, were among those killed but we suspect that they may be travellers or people from neighboring villages.

“As I speak, many people are leaving the village and most of them are women and children.

“We had issues with some herdsmen who said our villagers killed their cow but we were still negotiating with them not knowing that they are planning for war.

“They started shooting at Egedegede Development Centre where they blocked the road.”