‘Herdsman’ killed in gun battle with police

A suspected herdsman has been killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers of the Benue state command of the Nigeria police force.

Moses Yamu, spokesman of the command, disclosed this to TheCable on Tuesday.

He said the incident happened on Monday at Ayilamo, a community in Logo local government area (LGA) of the state.

“The herdsman was killed during a gunfire exchange between our men and his people,” Yamu said.

“A riffle was recovered from him and we also arrested a man who has been giving them information.”

This is the third known situation of herdsmen engaging security operatives in gun battle in recent times.

Three policemen and two officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were shot dead in different incidents at Guma local government.

Suspected herdsmen also engaged some soldiers in a shootout last week.

Guma and Logo are the two local government areas where 73 persons were killed in January.

Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, has accused the federal government of not doing enough to contain the high rate of insecurity in the state.