Around 200 people were brutally killed in Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State on the night of Friday 13th and Saturday 14th June 2025, the Pope said, most of them internally displaced persons “sheltered by local Catholic mission”.
Speaking just before delivering the Sunday Angelus prayer, the Pope prayed for “security, justice, and peace” in Nigeria, adding that he was thinking in particular of the rural Christian communities of Benue State who have been relentless victims of violence”.
Responding to the attack, Amnesty International Nigeria on Saturday called on Nigerian authorities to immediately end the almost daily bloodshed in Benue State and bring the actual perpetrators to justice.
Recall, the attackers descended on the community around 10 pm on Friday, moving from from house to house brutally killing residents, including children, with machetes and AK-47 rifles.
According to source, when they couldn’t force entry into homes, the assailants set them ablaze, standing by as the fires consumed the occupants.
Police Public Relations Officer Udeme Edet confirmed the incident but did not give the exact casualty number.
The attack comes just two days after similar massacre in Makurdi’s North Bank area, where about 25 people were brutally killed.
-9News Nigeria.
