Not less than 34 persons have been killed in Kogi State, community folks in Agojeju-Odo community though the Police put the figure at 19.
The Police confirmed invasion of the community in Omala Local Government Area by gunmen, though the reason for the attack still remained fuzzy at press time.
At least 50 houses are believed to have been torched by the invaders, who also destroyed farm produce.
According to one report, the community people said on Friday that the number of deaths rose to 34 following the discovery of corpses in the forests.
They appealed to Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo and security forces to come to their aid by deploying more security personnel to the area.
They expressed concern that the Police in the Local Government Area had been overwhelmed and overpowered by the attackers.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relation Officer of Kogi State Police Command William Aya said the yet to be identified gunmen attacked Agojeju-Odo community in Omala LGA.
Aya said that information from the Divisional Police Officer of the Local Government revealed that 19 persons were killed while many of the community members sustained various degrees of injury from the attack.
He said that the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command, CP Bethrand Onuoha, had deployed more policemen to the communities to reinforce security in the area.
He assured that the perpetrators of the heinous act would be hunted down and apprehended.
● Additional report by National Update