No fewer than seven persons have been confirmed killed by gunmen in an attack at Tor-Togan town on Thursday night.
Several others were injured in the attack, which occurred around 5:30pm.
The chairman of Katsina Ala local government area Hon.Alfled Atera confirmed the incident.
Tor Tongo is a farming community on Katsina Ala -Takum federal highway in Benue north east senatorial zone .
Atera told reporters that those killed were mostly members of Community Volunteer Guards (CVG).
He said five other persons sustained serious injuries among them, a priest, who was hit while the gunmen shot sporadically into the air before they escaped.
The gunmen, he alleged, were L gang members of a militia leader called Azonto.
Azonto,was arrested last month in Taraba state and has since been in custody.
He also said since the CVG vigilantes were not armed, there was little they could do to wade off the attack.
A military personnel,who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident.
According to him: “On Thursday around 4:44pm , in Tor Tonga town, Katsina Ala local government gunmen forced their way through a vigilante check point.
“Troops of Operation Whirl Stroke OPWS who were alerted about the sad development rushed to the area and gave the bandits a hot chase but couldn’t find them.
“They however recovered seven dead bodies and three wounded persons from the scene and they are now responding to treatment at an undisclosed hospital.”
But an indigene of Tor Tongo, Terseer Jato, dismissed the account of members of the Operation Whirl Stroke as false.
“We reported the activities of the gunmen to the soldiers but they did nothing until they killed seven person and fled unchallenged,” Jato said.
He alleged since the first commander of Operation Whirl Stroke Major- General Yekini left, Benue hoodlums who fled Katsina Ala after Gana was killed, were back and have been operating freely.
He called on soldiers to live up to their responsibility of protecting lives and property.
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