At least 12 people have been killed and several others injured in a fresh attack by suspected armed herders on farming communities in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, marking yet another deadly assault on one of Nigeria’s most persistently troubled zones.
The attack targeted the Tyungu Jam and Mbaav communities in the Yaav and Mbadura council wards of Kwande, coming amid rising tension in the state following a separate incident in which gunmen also killed Udeh Ijachi, a former caretaker chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area.
Locals said the attack occurred on Thursday, alleging it was carried out by suspected herdsmen who have conducted repeated assaults on communities in Kwande in recent times, including killing two security officers previously deployed to the area.
Governor Hyacinth Alia, in a statement issued by his Technical Adviser on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communication, Solomon Iorpev, described the attack as “barbaric, senseless, and unacceptable,” saying: “Every life matters, and the loss of even one life is too many.” He assured residents that perpetrators would be brought to justice.
Critically, the governor acknowledged that existing security measures had proved insufficient. Alia noted that despite the recent deployment of over 400 security personnel to Jato Aka and other parts of Kwande, the latest attacks demonstrated that more needed to be done, and appealed to residents to remain calm and cooperate with security agencies.
Friday’s killings are the latest in a relentless wave of violence in Benue’s Middle Belt communities. The state has suffered multiple mass casualty attacks in recent months, including the February 2026 assault on Abande market in Turan, Kwande, where over 17 people were killed, homes were set ablaze, and shops were looted.
Analysts have attributed the persistent violence to a combination of competition over land, climate change reducing available grazing territory, weak policing, and deepening ethnic and religious divisions across Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Human rights groups have repeatedly urged the federal government to take more decisive action to end the bloodshed in Benue State.
