Gunmen kill policeman in Benue, as OPWS neutralize one of the suspected attackers
By Titus Atondu, Makurdi
Some gunmen suspected to be loyal to the eliminated notorious Benue warlord, Terwase Akwaza alias Gana on Thursday morning reportedly attacked Tse Harga community in Katsina-Ala Local Government area of Benue State killing the a Police Officer.
This is even as troops of the Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS), in collaboration with the Police neutralized one of the suspected attackers who was caught with over 200 rounds of ammunitions.
Nigerian NewDirect gathered that the gunmen, in the early hours of Thursday invaded the sleepy community and suddenly launched an attack on the people in the area without provocation.
Tse Harga is part of the Sankera axis where the loyalists of the deceased militia kingpin have been holding sway, a development which made the state government to place a dusk to dawn curfew as well as ban the use of motorcycles and Toyota Camry popularly known as Duck Yansh to avert further criminal and armed banditry activities in the axis.
The Sankera axis comprises of three local government areas of Logo, Ukum and Katsina-Ala which had been hotbed of violent attacks for sometime now.
An inhabitant of Harga community who spoke to Nigerian NewDirect via telephone on condition of anonymity said the attackers arrived at about 4am while the people were still deep asleep.
“We noticed the presence of the attackers and we quickly alerted the DPO who also mobilized and swiftly moved to the area to find out what was happening.
“Unfortunately, as soon as they sighted the policemen, the gunmen opened fire on them, killing one of the policemen in the process.
“It was at that point that we quickly alerted troops of OPWS who were stationed at Gbishe close to us here in Harga and they wasted no time in responding to our calls.
“As I speak with you now, the military are on the trail of the attackers and we are hearing from the grapevine that one of them who was caught with several ammunitions have been killed by the troops in joint operation with the Nigerian Police.” He stressed.
The local government Council Chairman of Katsina-Ala, Alfred Atera who confirmed the incident disclosed that one policeman was killed in the attack while the police station and some houses were also burnt by the attackers.
When contacted,Commander OPWS, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini told Nigerian NewDirect via phone that he cannot comment on an ongoing operation.
“We are in operation around that axis but I can’t comment further on an ongoing operation. You may wish to contact the Directorate of Defence Information, Defence Headquarters Abuja, thanks”, Yekini said.
Meanwhile the Benue State Command of the Nigerian Police has confirmed the attack on Tse Harga community and the killing of the policeman in the area.
The command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Catherine Anene who confirmed the incident and said that the details of the attack was still sketchy at the time of filing the report and promised to made public the complete details as soon as she get it.
