Suspected herdsmen at the weekend killed about 32 people in different locations across the southern senatorial district of Nasarawa state.
The attackers reportedly struck in Tiv villages across Awe, Keana, Obi and Doma Local Government Areas of the state, leaving many others injured.
As at yesterday, over 10,000 Tiv villagers were said to have been trapped along the Agwatashi-Jangwa road axis in Obi Local Government Area shortly after the marauding herdsmen sacked many villages including Uvirkaa, the home town of a Gabriel Akaaka, a commissioner in Governor Tanko Al-Makuraโs executive council.
Many people who fled their villages were stranded in Lafia, the state capital apart from the over 100,000 people taking refuge in different Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), camps at Agwatashi, Aloshi, Awe, Adudu, Obi, Keana, Doma, Agyaragu, among other locations.
Eight injured people were yesterday receiving treatment at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, (DASH), Lafia as a result of injuries sustained from the attacks. Five bodies were deposited at the hospital mortuary out of which three were released by the Police for burial.
President Tiv Youth Organization Nasarawa state chapter Comrade Peter Ahemba, told reporters that the entire Tiv villages in the southern part of the state were sacked, noting that most of the affected villages were being occupied by the invaders.
he said: โAs I speak to you, seven bodies of our people killed this morning (yesterday) by the terrorists in Wurji village of Keana LGA have just been recovered and brought to Keana town by the Police. Also last night, five of our people were killed in the coordinated attacks with seven others still missing at Kertyo and Apurugh villages in Obi Local Governmentโ.
โThree days ago, we recorded eight deaths from similar attacks in Kadarko area, four from Aloshi axis, one person from Agberagba, all in Keana LGA. Another six persons were shot at Imon village and were rushed to Obi General Hospial as a result of which one of them later died. This is just few out of deaths we recorded within the last three days as a result of these senseless attacksโ. He noted.
The Tiv youth leader alleged that the gun-wielding herdsmen were conveyed in trucks.
He appealed to the Nasarawa state government to stop the carnage.
Police spokesman Idrissu Kennedy, said he was aware of attacks on Imon and some of the villages but was yet to be briefed on the number of casualties.
