Benue killings: Troops arrest seven suspects

Troops of Operation Whirl Stroke have arrested seven people in connection with the killings in Ukpogo Community of Edikwu district in Apa local government area of Benue State.

Recall that hired gunmen invaded the Ukpogo community of Edikwu District two Monday ago where they reportedly killed 13 people and many others were injured over chieftaincy dispute.

Locals from the community said that soldiers who were deployed to the area to forestall further attack apprehended seven people with sophisticated weapons in the area.

According to a local source, the troops were said to have acted on information provided which led to the arrest of the seven people.

One of the locals who identified himself as Eko told journalists on the phone that he was able to identify one of the attackers in the community who was making an attempt to escape to Amoke District in the same local government area.

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He said the OPWS troops immediately swung into action and trailed the militant boy to Amoke and in the process, arrested five of them with sophisticated weapons.

“It was when these people were arrested that one of them led the troops to their hideout in Ugbokpo town leading to the arrest of an additional two people.

“Since the attack, soldiers deployed to this area have been in search of the suspected attackers and in the early hours of Monday, some of our community leaders who saw that one of the suspected attackers was trying to escape to a neighbouring district promptly passed information to the soldiers who arrested him.

“We learnt that the arrested suspect helped the troops to arrest other suspects.

“I want to sincerely thank the troops for their timely intervention. Their presence has brought normalcy to our community because almost all the people that fled have returned home”.

When contacted, the Force Commander of OPWS, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini said he would not comment on the arrest of the suspected militias and referred journalists to the Defense Head Quarters (DHQ) Information Department.

Police Public Relations Officer in the State, DSP, Catherine Anene, when contacted said she is yet to be briefed but expressed confidence that the joint security operatives deployed to the area are not resting in their oars to apprehend the perpetrators of the Edikwu attack.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE