Troops of the Operation Whirl-Stroke (OPWS) have neutralised five bandits at the Utange Council Ward in Katsina Ala Local Government Area of Benue State. Governor Samuel Ortom’s Security Adviser, Col. Paul Hemba (rtd), who briefed journalists in his office on the incident, said the bandits were neutralised at two different encounters.

He said they have been terrorising residents of Sankera area. Hemba disclosed that the bandits also launched a reprisal attack on officers of the State’s Community Volunteer Guards (CVG), killing one of them. He added that the shelter built for use by the bandits which has become an operational base for Fulani herdsmen was also set ablaze by the troops.