The Police in Benue State on Monday confirmed the killing of four of its personnel by gunmen believed to be insurgents in Logo Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson of the command, Moses Joel Yamu, in a statement, which confirmed the incident, noted that, "its personnel came under attack of insurgents at Anyibe, Logo LGA of the state between 6:00pm of Sunday, 15th April, 2018 and early Monday morning.
"Sadly, at the moment, four casualties have been suffered by the police."
Yamu added that reinforcement (including the air asset of the police) had been deployed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in pursuit of the murderous gang, stressing that, they shall be definitely apprehended with their weapons of destruction and made to face the full wrath of the law.
Locals in the area told our correspondent that the gunmen were suspected herders who on Sunday evening first attacked two policemen on motorcycle, killing one on the spot and leaving the other that escaped with serious injury.
It was further gathered that the gunmen laid ambush and seized the reinforcement team of the policemen who were immediately drafted to the troubled spot to rescue their colleagues.
According to the villagers, the police had been able to recover at least four corpses of their personnel but that many of them were still missing.
The Council Chairman of Logo, Richard Nyajo, however told newsmen in Makurdi that several Mobile Police officers were killed in his area while many are injured and others are still unaccounted for.
Nyajo said the suspected herders had engaged the security operatives in gunmen duel around 7:00pm in Tombo council ward of Logo as he maintained that, "it has not been completely confirmed the number of police officers killed but many are reported dead. This is what those who managed to escape told me."
Our correspondent reports that, at least, 14 security operatives have so far been killed since fresh crisis started in the state on New Year Day with nine policemen earlier killed in Guma and Logo while two civil defence personnel and a soldier were also killed in Guma.
The latest four killed in Logo brings the number of security men causality in the state this year alone to 18, though, the two other policemen missing in Logo in February are not yet reportedly found while more are missing in the fresh attack.