At least eleven persons have been reportedly killed in fresh crisis that broke out between ethnic Hausa traders and Benue State indigenes in the state capital, Makurdi on Wednesday.

Confirming the incident, Rilwanu Adamu, the Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor, said the attacks were targeted at the Hausa traders, warning that the death toll could rise if security agencies do not intervene.

“We lost 11 of our people… We have five people also hospitalized in Makurdi,” Adamu said, adding that at least two mosques were razed to the ground and traders’ goods worth millions of naira ransacked by the irate Benue youths.

The latest crisis is coming in the wake of an attack on a church in Mbalom community, Gwer West Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday, which left two Catholic priests and 15 others dead.

It took the combined efforts of men of the Nigerian Police and other security agents to quell the riot by firing tear gas to disperse the rampaging crowds.