12-year-old boy injured by a stray bullet as military and police clash in Benue

Friday, November 14, 2025 - One person has been reportedly injured during a clash between soldiers and operatives of the Nigerian Police’s Operation Zenda Joint Task Force, JTF, in Naka, headquarters of Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.

Sources said the incident, which occurred on Tuesday, caused panic and stampede in the rural town which provided refuge for displaced people from herdsmen violence.

The clash led to the destruction of the official vehicle of the JTF Commander, CSP Lyam Akegh, during an alleged exchange of gunfire.

Eyewitness accounts said the police were intercepted by the soldiers at a checkpoint while returning from an operation targeted at curbing kidnappings and banditry along the Makurdi–Naka–Adoka–Ankpa and Naka–Agagbe roads.

The witnesses alleged that there was an exchange of gunfire between the security agencies following a heated argument.

A monarch in the area, Chief Deligba Akaa, was said to have given refuge to a three-year-old boy who got missing during the incident.

A source said some children were still reported missing with most of them still saying that the cause of the clash was unclear to them.

But a security source, who preferred anonymity, told journalists in Makurdi that trouble started when the troops at a checkpoint in Naka earlier sighted some motorcyclists transporting butchered cows, a movement the soldiers found suspicious.

“When the soldiers tried to stop them for questioning, a Toyota Hilux vehicle approached the checkpoint at high speed and ignored repeated signals to halt.

“The troops fired warning shots as a standard procedure, but the vehicle drove off into Naka town,” the source narrated.

The source added that shortly after, sporadic gunfire erupted in the community and it was later discovered that some Operation Zenda personnel (police) had allegedly fired into the air in celebration of a successful operation.

“Unfortunately, a 12-year-old boy was hit in the leg by a stray bullet.

“He is currently receiving treatment at Naka Medical Centre and is in stable condition.

“Operation Zenda personnel reportedly returned to the checkpoint to demand the release of suspects earlier arrested with mutilated cows believed to have been rustled.

“One of the suspects allegedly confessed that the cows were being transported in the Operation Zenda vehicle that had refused to stop earlier,” the source posited.

Meanwhile, OPWS had yet to respond to the actual cause of the fracas between its personnel and the police.

Similarly, the Spokesperson of the Benue State Police Command, DSP Udeme Edet, said investigations were ongoing to determine the cause of the confrontation.

The Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor on Security and Internal Affairs, Joseph Har, said he had yet to receive full details of the incident