No fever than 38 persons, mostly Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were on Good Friday night killed by suspected herdsmen at Mgbam, Nyiev council ward in Guma local government area of Benue state.
The herdsmen according to residents, invaded the LGEA Primary School Mgbam, where the IDPs were camping around 9 pm and started shooting and killing people, not sparing women and children.
Blueprint gathered that 39 persons were also seriously injured in the attack.
The District Head of Nyiev, Benard Shawa, whose resident is behind the primary school housing the IDPs, said two of his children were also killed in the attack.
According to him, out of the 38 persons killed, 30 are women.
He said he was in the house playing with his children and some IDPs when theƴ heard sporadic shooting near his house.
The gunshots made people scamper for safety, noting that it was in that process that some of them were accosted by the herdsmen and killed.
“Some of those killed are IDPs who ran away from their communities and are taking refuge in the primary school because of the security that usually mount road block on the road in the place.
“They go out in the day time and when it’s night they come back to sleep in the classroom.
“Some of them were shot right in their rooms, while they were sleeping, and others including two of my children were caught while running and killed. On the day of the Presidential Election too, 12 persons were attacked and killed in the community,” he added.
The Benue Police Command Spokesperson, SP Catherine Sewuese Anene, when contacted confirmed the attack.
She however, said only 28 corpses were recovered and deposited at the hospital morgue.
She added that investigation was already on going.
Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom who was in the area for on the spot assessment condemned the attack.
He condoled the families of those who lost their beloved ones in the attack, especially the traditional ruler whose two children were killed .
“How can you imagine that people you chased away from their ancestral homes are again attack at their place of refuge and killed.
“Just few days ago in Umogidi, more than fifty persons were killed and today we have lost more than 36. It is disheartening that more than 80 persons are killed in less than a week. “It is the greatest height of inhumanity,” he added.