About 100 persons including toddlers were “locked up and burnt in their bedrooms” in an overnight attack by suspected herdsmen in Yelewata and Daudu communities in Benue State, Amnesty International claimed in a statement on Saturday.

Community leader Matthew Mnyan put the death toll at 200, noting that the number of wounded people exceeded 40.

Children’s throats were slit, and petrol was poured on some residents before the attackers set them ablaze, said Mr Mnyan who is among the community leaders in Yelewata and previously worked as acting chairman of the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board.  

The suspected herdsmen attacked Yelewata from two ends between late Friday and early Saturday, killing everyone in their path including youths and security agents who tried to fend them off. The herdsmen, in their large numbers and coordinated attacks, overpowered them.

Mr Mnyan said the herders attacked the communities around 11:00 p.m. on Friday from the Western part and met fierce resistance from the youth and other security agents.

He explained that another group of herdsmen attacked Yelewata from the Eastern part and overpowered the youth before launching the attacks on the residents, most of whom were internally displaced persons from other parts of the state who sought refuge in market stalls due to their proximity to police stations.

“They killed our people, poured petrol on the stalls in the market and burnt them,” Mr Mnyan said. “In those stalls, we had people who moved from places such as Branch Udei and people displaced from nearby villages, who slept in them because of the proximity of the police and soldiers there. And we learnt no soldier came out to defend the people.”

The community leader said the death scenes were gruesome as families of 12 and 15 were burnt beyond recognition.

“As of now, from the names they are putting together, and the number of families and people that were burnt and killed are running to over 200 now. They killed and burned people in the houses. They will pour petrol and burn the whole place where people were sleeping. We had a family of 15, some families of 12, men with their two wives, children and every one of them burnt. It is a terrible sight,” said the community leader.

The killings sparked protests as residents stormed the streets asking the government to intervene, claiming their attackers were killer herdsmen who sought to grab their fertile lands and chase them out of their communities.

“It is heartbreaking, everybody is aware that the people want to take over Benue state. There are no two ways about it. They only want to grab the land,” explained the Yelewata community leader.

“If you go to the east side of Yelewata, Fulanis have taken over the land and given it to some of their people to be farming. And they do not want anybody to go there,” he added.

A similar attack on Daudu community was unsuccessful as youth and security agents fought back to repel the attackers. The incident ended in a bloodbath that reportedly claimed the lives of security agents.

“Fortunately, that same day, the ones at Daudu were dislodged, and we learnt five soldiers and police personnel were killed sadly. From the information I received, I think one of them was of the rank of a Captain,” Mr Mnyan said. “We learnt more than 300 terrorists were camped close to Daudu.”