Two officers of the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps have been found dead in Benue State following a gun battle with armed attackers suspected to be herdsmen, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
“They were in a gun duel with the herders and, unfortunately, we lost two,” NSCDC spokesperson, Emmanuel Okeh, said Monday evening.
The attack occurred in Guma Local Government Area of the state.
Some residents of the area said that four NSCDC officers were killed in the attack, but Mr. Okeh told PREMIUM TIMES he could only confirm two.
The remains of the officers have been taken to the Benue State Teaching Hospital in Makurdi, the state capital, he said.
The news came hours after the police confirmed the killing of one of their officers in the neighbouring Logo Local Government Area on Monday morning.
The officer was amongst the four mobile policemen that went missing in an ambush by suspected herdsmen on Saturday afternoon.
Both Logo and Guma LGAs were attacked on January 1 during which more than a hundred villagers were killed.
Seventy-two bodies were buried in a mass grave near Makurdi by the state government on January 12.
