About 19 people in Tawari community in the Kogi Local Government Area of Kogi State have been killed by gunmen.

The gunmen also burnt several buildings, including the palace of the king of the community.The Public Relations Officer of the Kogi State Police Command, Williams Anya, confirmed the development in Lokoja on Friday.

Anya said a police assessment team had visited the community and that many buildings, including places of worship, had been burnt. Tawari community is a few kilometres off Gegu town along the Lokoja-Abuja highway.

A resident of Tawari community, Comfort Solomon, who survived the attack, said the gunmen, numbering about 100, invaded the community late on Thursday. Solomon said the gunmen came in their numbers on motorcycles and descended on the village, killing and burning buildings until the early hours of Friday.

Solomon said several places of worship and the palace of the Akuma of Tawari were burnt down by the invaders. She said: “The gunmen were up to 100 in number.

“They came into the community with motorcycles around 11:15pm when villagers were sleeping.“They entered selected houses, packed foodstuff and motorcycles and burnt selected houses, including homes of clerics.”They killed more than 15 men.“The attackers were communicating with each other in Hausa language,”