MAKURDI, Nigeria, — Two personnel of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards were killed in an attack on the Ugbema axis of Buruku Local Government Area (LGA), local residents and community sources said, in the latest incident underscoring persistent insecurity in parts of the state.
According to accounts carried by local media, the assailants were believed to have entered the area from the Shitile axis of neighbouring Katsina-Ala LGA. During the raid, several residents were abducted but later released, the sources said.
A community source said the attackers—allegedly linked to a known local militia leader—have mounted repeated assaults on the area for months, dispossessing residents of personal belongings and sustaining fear across surrounding settlements. The source said the frequency of raids prompted residents to seek help from security agencies, leading to a police visit in which officers reportedly shared phone numbers for residents to call during emergencies.
The same source alleged that the attackers appeared to have learned of that arrangement and returned “in large numbers,” firing shots and taunting residents to contact the police. In the ensuing violence, two volunteer guards were killed and several people were beaten or injured, the source said.
Corroborating the account, the wife of one of the slain guards, who asked not to be named, said her husband and a colleague were captured during the attack and later killed after being tortured. She said the attackers withdrew back toward Shitile after the killings.
In the aftermath, residents have begun relocating to nearby villages, fearing further violence and possible reprisals, according to community accounts.
Benue’s Community Volunteer Guards were created to support conventional security agencies at the community level. The state government has previously said the outfit, established under a state law, was intended to work with security forces to curb crime across rural areas where response times can be slow.
The latest killings come amid a wider pattern of armed attacks in Benue in recent weeks. On Jan. 13, for example, gunmen killed five people in Otobi community in Otukpo LGA, Channels Television reported.
Efforts to obtain an official response on the Buruku incident were unsuccessful. The Benue State Police Command’s spokesperson, DSP Udeme Edet, could not be reached as of press time, Vanguard reported.
