The death toll from the attack on the Ayati Community in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State on the 8 of August 2024 has reached 75.
Locals in the area who do not want their names in print told our correspondent through a telephone conversation that more searches by a combined force of security agents alongside locals in the area have helped in the recovery of more corpses.
Recall that Ayati armed men suspected to be local bandits invaded the Ayati Community on the 8 of August 2024, where they shot and killed 30 persons on the spot while scores sustained varying degrees of injuries, and many were pronounced missing.
The Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mathew Abo, disclosed in an interview with our correspondent that although security has been deployed to comb the area, he added that more corpses are being recovered daily.
According to him, "I received reports from my home LG that the local bandits invaded Ayati community and so far 30 corpses have been recovered, and more corpses are being recovered from the surrounding bushes as security personnel are combing the area."
The commissioner explained that the attackers were local bandits fighting for supremacy, adding that some were from Tine-Nune. Still, their maternal home was Ayati, while the others were from Ayati, and their maternal home was Tine-nune. If the ones from Ayati attack and kill people from Tin-nine, the ones from Tine-nine will come for a reprisal to ensure that they kill more than what happened in their area.
A local who identified himself as Iorliam said on the evening of the attack, over 40 more corpses of children, the age and even pregnant women were recovered. Some of the people who sustained injuries and were taken to the hospitals also died, adding that "we are recording death every day, even this evening one corpse was recovered in the nearby bush bringing the number from 74 to 75.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Catherine Anene confirmed the death of 17 farmers alongside 2 Police officers in the earlier attack that led to the killing of 75 people.
