MAKURDI – Gunmen yesterday blocked the Makurdi-Lafia highway and conducted searches on vehicles plying the route, dragging out Tiv occupants.
This went on as reports emerged that another set of gunmen killed six people yesterday in two villages of Agatu LGA a day after they opened fire in a local market, killing four persons.
Police spokesman, Daniel Ezeala who confirmed the killings in Agatu said more security operatives were deployed to the area while normalcy according to him had returned to the Makurdi-Lafia highway.
Commissioner for Works, John Ngbede, who hails from Agatu LGA, told our correspondent that the six persons were killed in Enjila and Ogbagaji, headquarters of the council. He said four of them were attacked and killed in their farms while the other two were passersby. Ngbede joined the numerous appeals for deployment of more security personnel to the area and other parts of the state.
By Tuesday, the killing which went on with impunity in Guma LGA extended to Ikayongo along the Makurdi-Otukpo road in Gwer LGA where over 60 people were reported killed. Though there were reports of the deployment of more mobile policemen, the latest incident appears not to be last word on the subject as many residents of communities around Makurdi have shifted into the capital, seeking protection away from their homelands, our correspondent reports.