Nine shot dead in Benue villages

Gunmen in the early hours of Friday allegedly killed a total of nine people in different villages across two Local Government Areas of Benue State.

Our correspondent gathered that of the number, five were killed in TyoughAtee/Njaha Council ward,

Shagbaor, Tse Tûgh village, Mbatyough, Saghev all in Gwer West LGA while the remaining four were allegedly killed at Imandeakpu village along Gbajimba-University road in Guma LGA.

It was learnt that several people sustained gun wounds in the communities during the attacks.

Villagers said the gunmen besieged their communities in the dead of the night, fired gunshots sporadically and hacked some people to death with cutlasses.

They also told our correspondent by telephone that there was security intervention in the Gwer West area which forced the gunmen to flee the scene.

The villagers however claimed that security personnel rescued some of the wounded persons, including a pregnant woman, and took them to a hospital in Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West LGA.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Anene, did not respond to the call placed to her telephone.