The police in Ebonyi State, South-east Nigeria, have confirmed that 10 people were killed in suspected herders attack in Ebonyi community on Sunday.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how gunmen suspected to be herders, raided Amagu village in Ishielu Local Government Area of the state, killing residents and burning down houses in the early hours of Sunday.
The incident is believed to be a reprisal following the killing of some cattle belonging to the herders in the area.
“We did not kill their cows. The cows were killed by members of the IPOB’s Eastern Security Network in the forest,” said a source who informed this newspaper that a Pentecostal pastor was among those killed in the attack.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the police spokesperson in Ebonyi, Joshua Ukandu, confirmed on Sunday that 10 people were killed in the attack.
“Several houses were also burnt selectively in the area and other properties destroyed,” NAN quoted Mr Ukandu, a superintendent of police, as saying.
The spokesperson said the police quickly drafted operatives to the area when they received information on the attack and that normalcy has returned to the area.
Herders and insecurity in South-east
Herders’ activities in Nigeria’s South-east have remained one of the major causes of insecurity in the region, with many killings and destruction, especially of farmlands, attributed to them.
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Frequent clashes have occurred between herders and farmers across the region and other parts of the country, as cattle often walk through farmlands and destroy crops.
After a series of attacks some years ago on some communities in Ishielu and Ohaukwu local government areas of Ebonyi, most herders quietly relocated from the state for fear of reprisals.
However, some herders would sometimes come back into Ebonyi through the neighbouring Enugu State.
There have been calls for adopting a ranching system in Nigeria to solve the deadly clashes between herders and farmers.
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