A soldier and three civilians have been reportedly killed by suspected cultists in North Bank area of Makurdi metropolis in Benue State.
Our correspondent reports that there had been a renewed unrest in the North Bank vicinity for over four weeks occasioned by cult clashes leading to killings and burning of houses.
Residents said the latest killings, which occurred on Friday night, involved a soldier and two churchgoers who might have been caught in the cross-fire and a fourth person suspected to be a cultist killed at his home.
The residents said the soldier and the two churchgoers were on their way to attend an all-night church event at the IBB Square in Makurdi when the incident happened around 10pm near the former NNPC fuel station, a close proximity to the new dual carriage bridge at North Bank in Makurdi.
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“The young soldier, a student of Nigeria Army College of Environmental Science and Technology (NACEST) located in NASME barracks at North Bank, Makurdi was in company of the other two and they were going for a crusade programme in town when those bad boys gunned them down.
“The soldier’s work station is elsewhere in the country but he was only on school leave to Makurdi.
“Please the government should pay attention to Makurdi’s North Bank. These killings are becoming too many, especially as they now kill innocent people who are not part of their cult groups,” a worried resident cried out.
The commander of a local vigilante group known as Operation Shara (Sweep) in North Bank, Nura Umar, told our correspondent on phone that the soldier and two civilians were killed on Friday night while the fourth person was hacked to death while asleep on Thursday by the suspected rival cultists.
Umar explained that, “Between 10pm and 11pm yesterday (Friday), a soldier was killed and two boys in North Bank. Those boys are not cultists – those who shot them suspected they were cultists and gunned them down.
“The soldier may have been mistakenly shot during the exchange of gunfire between the rival cultists.
“Then on Thursday, one person (suspected cultist) who was sleeping in his house was also killed.”
A spokesman for the Nigerian Army 72 Battalion, when contacted, said he was out of town and could not ascertain if the incident happened.
Also when contacted, the police spokesman for Benue command, SP Catherine Anene, confirmed cult activities in the North Bank vicinity, saying that one person was killed in the Friday incident.
“Yes, there were cult activities in North Bank but am aware of one person killed on Friday, a young civilian,” she said.
Anene added that police operatives have been redeployed to the area to contain the crisis.
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