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Otukpo, Benue State – By Prime Brief Media

Suspected armed herdsmen killed at least three persons and abducted several commuters in two separate but possibly linked attacks in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State on Friday evening, throwing residents into panic and renewing calls for enhanced security across the Middle Belt. The first attack targeted the Akpamaju farming community, while the second, which occurred barely an hour later, was an ambush on a police checkpoint at Ojano along the busy Otukpo-Enugu Road. 

According to local sources, the first incident took place at Akpamaju community where two men working on a farm with a tractor were killed by the assailants. One of the victims, identified as Francis Liambee from Guma LGA, had reportedly travelled from Gboko to operate the tractor hired for farming activities. The other deceased was named as Friday Omoha from Ogbadibo LGA. A young boy who was with them managed to escape and later accompanied community members to deposit the recovered bodies at the University of Health Sciences Teaching Hospital mortuary in Otukpo. "The victims, two males, were on the farm. One of them came from Gboko to work for the man who hired him, and both of them were killed. The attackers were armed herdsmen," a local source recounted. 

Barely an hour after the Akpamaju killings, a second attack was reported at Ojano along the Enugu Road. Eyewitness accounts indicate that the attackers emerged from the surrounding bush and opened fire on a police checkpoint. A young man who routinely assisted police officers in moving the barricade used for vehicle checks was shot dead on the spot. According to the source, the policemen on duty fled for their lives during the ambush. The gunmen then turned their weapons on a commercial bus belonging to a Mass Transit company marked TMT, injuring several passengers and abducting an unspecified number of others. Some passengers managed to escape and ran back towards Otukpo, while those injured were rushed to hospital. The damaged vehicle was later moved to the Otukpo Police Station, and the corpse of the deceased was deposited at the mortuary. 

Confirming the incidents, the Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, Maxwell Ogiri, said security operatives responded swiftly after receiving distress calls from the affected communities. According to a security report he received, the first distress call came in around 5 p.m. on Friday. "We rushed to the already deserted village with the police and trailed the attackers to a farm where we discovered that two men who were tilling the land with a tractor had been killed. One of the survivors told us the attackers were about 15 in number and were armed with AK-47 rifles," Ogiri stated. 

The council chairman further disclosed that while officials were returning from the mortuary around 10 p.m., another distress call was received concerning an attack on the Ojano axis of the Enugu Road. "We mobilised with Operation Whirl Stroke personnel to the scene and engaged the attackers in a gun duel. They attacked a TMT mass transit vehicle and some other vehicles. We rescued three passengers and took them to the hospital, but unfortunately one of them died," Ogiri said. Preliminary findings, he noted, suggested that the same group of about 15 armed men may have carried out both attacks.