Armed herdsmen launched a deadly assault Tuesday on the Otobi community in Benue State, Nigeria, just one day after 51 people were killed in a separate attack in neighboring Plateau State. The fresh violence in the Akpa district of Otukpo Local Government Area left at least seven people dead, over 20 wounded, and multiple homes set ablaze.
Kennedy Angbo, the representative of Otukpo-Akpa Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly, confirmed the attack began around 5:30 p.m. and lasted for two hours. “We need help, as our people are being killed mercilessly,” Angbo said in a phone interview, reporting that hundreds have fled the community in fear. Police have not yet commented on the incident, though a formal statement is expected later, according to police spokesperson Catherine Anene.
Otobi, which hosts a key water resource facility, has now suffered three attacks this month alone. The violence is part of Nigeria’s ongoing farmer-herder conflict, a resource-based struggle that has escalated into one of the nation’s most serious security crises, deepening ethnic, religious, and regional divides across the country.
