Police say 11 killed in Ayilamo, Benue—including 4 officers—after Sept. 10 attack

The Benue State Police Command confirmed that 11 people were killed — seven civilians and four police officers — after an evening attack on Ayilamo in Logo Local Government Area on September 10, 2026, Daily Post, Punch, and Vanguard reported. Police spokesperson DSP Peter Aondongu said suspected armed bandits entered the community about 6:12 p.m.; Police Mobile Force, tactical, and regular units fought a gun battle of about seven hours before the attackers withdrew into nearby forest early on September 11. The command said the four officers’ bodies were recovered in surrounding bush and that seven civilian bodies were taken to a mortuary. Punch identified the dead officers as ASP Paul Ina and Inspectors Mohammed Yusuf, Oge Ikechukwu, and Edeh Andrew. A local count had put the toll at 12, including eight civilians; police confirmed 11. Additional tactical teams were deployed, the command said.

Officials called the attackers “armed bandits.” The same reports, in the same stretch of coverage, recorded a framing gap: Punch’s account and local voices described suspected armed herders or Fulani assailants, Vanguard’s headline used “armed herdsmen” while quoting the police “bandits” language, and International Christian Concern on September 15 described a suspected Fulani militia attack on a predominantly Christian farming community. Community security secretary Umishi Terungwa, Punch and ICC said, attributed the raid to Fulani assailants; ICC also quoted him saying he heard Fulani speech and “Allahu Akbar,” an account ICC said it could not independently confirm. This brief records the police death toll and that contested labeling. It does not use genocide language and does not adopt any side’s identity claim as proven.