Five members of a family were killed when suspected armed herders attacked Imande Dem settlement along Gbajimba Road in Uvir Council Ward, Guma local government, Benue State in the early hours of Tuesday. The victims included Mrs Utsuwa Chicha and her three sons, while a teenage boy survived with gunshot wounds and underwent emergency surgery to remove bullets. The husband had been killed in an earlier attack, leaving the family vulnerable before this latest assault. Security operatives and residents jointly evacuated the bodies, while the injured child remains hospitalized.
The survival of a teenage boy amid the slaughter of his entire immediate family exposes how these attacks spare no one. With state government and security agencies silent on yet another massacre in Guma, the cycle of impunity shows no sign of breaking. The absence of official response suggests the lives of rural villagers carry little weight in broader security calculations. Unless concrete action follows, more families will face the same fate.
