By Peter Duru

Makurdi—Suspected armed herdsmen, Sunday night, killed two passengers of a commercial vehicle and abducted four others along the Adoka-Otukpo Road in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

The occupants of the ill-fated vehicle were said to be en-route Otukpo from Abuja when they came under attack about 11p.m.
A source in the area disclosed that the vehicle ran into an ambush by the herders, who shot and killed the driver and a passenger, forcing the vehicle to veer off the road.

He said: “From what we were told, the bus was coming from Abuja and heading to Otukpo when they ran into an ambush by armed herdsmen who opened fire on the bus.

“They shot at moving vehicle and killed the driver and one other passenger, the bus veered off the road and ended up in the bush.
“They came and took all the surviving passengers away, though we cannot tell the exact figure of those they took away but from Abuja, the vehicle took nine occupants including the driver.”

Confiiring the incident, Chairman of Otukpo council, Maxwell Ogiri, who disclosed that the vehicle had six occupants at the time of the attack, explained that some of the occupants had earlier dropped off at Adoka before the vehicle came under attack.

He said: “The vehicle was coming from Abuja to Otukpo and some of the passengers actually alighted in Adoka. So, there were six passengers remaining in the vehicle when they were intercepted on the Adoka Otukpo Road, two people were killed and four others were whisked away.”

The chairman said efforts were on to locate and rescue the abducted passengers.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene said she was yet to receive the report of the incident.