The Benue State Police Command has confirmed that eight people were killed in Sunday’s suspected terrorist attack on communities in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Cletus Nwadiogbu, said the victims comprised five adults and three children.

Speaking on the incident, Nwadiogbu said he spent most of Sunday in the affected communities alongside other security personnel to assess the situation and restore normalcy after youths staged protests and blocked roads following the attack.

According to him, the security team engaged the protesting youths, who later agreed to reopen the roads while awaiting the arrival of water tankers to extinguish fires caused during the incident.

The police commissioner described the attack as an act of terrorism, explaining that the assailants adopted guerrilla tactics by striking the communities before retreating into nearby forests, making their arrest difficult.

He said investigations were ongoing to determine whether the latest attack was connected to previous incidents in the area or was carried out independently.

Nwadiogbu assured residents that security agencies were intensifying efforts to track down the attackers and prevent further assaults on communities in the state.