No fewer than 11 persons were killed in a fresh attack in the early hours of yesterday by suspected bandits in the Ayati community of Ukum Local Government Area in Benue State.
The developments sparked a huge protest in the vicinity.
Ukum is one of the three LGAs in the Sankera ancestral bloc that has mostly come under attack by armed outlaws for many years, despite several joint security operations aimed at eradicating gangsterism in the area.
Residents say the latest killings occurred in the early hours of Wednesday after the bandits launched an attack on Ayati, the headquarters of Borikyo ward, shooting dead 11 people and leaving many others with varying degrees of injury.
It was learnt that the development forced angry Borikyo youths to besiege the Sankera-Ayati-Sai road and Ukum local government secretariat to express their grief over the incessant killings in the community.
The angry protesters, it was gathered, vandalised the council secretariat, shattering windows and destroying other things at sight with stones and sticks.
