Author: Gist Correspondent

Many people are feared killed while several others were reportedly abducted on Thursday following a violent attack on Okporojo community in Oso Edda, Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The incident, which occurred around 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 29, 2026, was allegedly carried out by yet-to-be-identified gunmen who invaded the community in the late afternoon.

Eyewitness accounts said the attackers ambushed the area, setting houses ablaze and unleashing violence that left numerous residents dead or missing. Sources further claimed that more than five persons were allegedly beheaded during the attack, with their heads reportedly taken away by the assailants.

Videos circulating on social media showed several buildings engulfed in flames, as terrified residents appealed for urgent intervention from the state government and security agencies.

Community sources linked the violence to a long-standing land dispute between Oso Edda in Edda Local Government Area and neighbouring Amasiri community in Afikpo Local Government Area. The dispute, which has lingered for decades, centres on ownership of a tract of land along the boundary between both communities, with each side laying claim to ancestral rights.

As of the time of filing this report, the Ebonyi State Police Command and the state government had yet to issue an official statement on the attack. Efforts to reach security authorities for confirmation and details of casualties were unsuccessful.