Nigeria, Jan. 13 -- Barely 24 hours after gunmen attacked a Benue Links bus along the Otukpo axis of Benue State, suspected armed herders have killed a retired soldier in the town, deepening fears over the security situation.

The former military officer, a retired Master Warrant Officer of the Nigerian Army identified as Anyebe, was killed on Sunday in the Asa 2 area of Otukpo. Residents said the attackers stormed his residence and shot him dead, triggering panic in the neighbourhood.

IDOMA VOICE, a community newspaper, reported that the same group of attackers also struck the Obaganya area of the town on the same day, where they shot a man and abducted his wife and infant child before fleeing into the surrounding bushes.

In another in...