At least 17 persons have been  killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen who attacked a Catholic Church in Ayar-Mbalom community in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State this Tuesday morning.

The gunmen reportedly stormed St. Ignatius Catholic Church in the early hours of Tuesday before the morning mass. Shooting sporadically, they killed two Catholic priests namely Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha and 15 other worshippers.

The attackers also burnt down over 50 houses and sacked the entire community without any form of resistance from security agencies in the area.

Tuesday’s attack is coming few days after the murder of 10 persons by herdsmen in Guma Local Government Area, which has been one of the major scenes of carnage in the state since the January 1 mass slaughter.

Confirming the incident, Director of Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Moses Iorapuu in a statement released on Tuesday condemned the incessant attacks on innocent citizens in the state and expressed regret at the attitude and inability of security agencies to contain the killings.

“The attack on the priests is an attack on everything that we ever stood for and believed in,” Iorapuu said in the statement.  

Iorapuu added that the herdsmen also razed houses, destroyed crops and killed many people in the attack, including worshippers from the diocese whom he said had been providing food and relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) since the onset of herdsmen’s onslaught in the state.