At least 24 people, mostly farmers, have been reportedly killed while many others, including women and children, went missing in an ongoing fresh crisis between Tiv and Fulani at Sabon Gidan village at Dan Anacha town in Taraba State.
Sources in the area said the crisis started on Saturday when two bodies of Fulani were found in a bush which made their kin to embark on district reprisal on Tiv people. A source said at least 20 people were killed yesterday.
“I counted about 20 bodies believed to have been killed in the early hours of today (yesterday). “Many people including women and children are nowhere to be found,” the source added. When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officers (PPRO), ASP David Misal, confirmed the attacks to our reporter.
The PPRO said that the police had drafted more men to the area to restore peace and order. Misal said the police could not yet ascertain the number of casualties.
He said: “Actually, I cannot lie to you there are casualties, but we will release the figures later after we might have finished combing the area. “It was an undercover attack by some unidentified people in the area.” The image maker said the police would soon conduct a thorough search for the perpetrators through intelligence gathering.
The acting Chairman of Concerned Taraba Tiv Youth Frontier, Mr. Dooior Torkula, said 18 persons were killed in separate attacks. Torkula said the frontier recovered 12 bodies in Dan-Anacha shortly after the attacks.
He said four bodies were recovered from the Borno- Kruku Road on the outskirts of Dan-Anacha, while two other bodies were recovered in their farms. According to him, that the attackers broke into most of the victims’ houses while they slept and murdered them.
Meanwhile, at least 20 cows have been reportedly killed by poison at Gofa community, Loko in Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. Reports said the cows died at the weekend after allegedly eating poisonous substance suspected to be ‘Gamaline 20’ while grazing in the area.
Youth leader of Miyetti Alllah Cattle Breeders Association in the state, Manga Ussaini, confirmed to journalists yesterday in an interview that 20 cows died after eating poisonous substance.
Ussaini alleged that his kinsmen lost 30 cows in a similar manner in the community about two weeks ago. He called on government, particularly security agencies, to investigate the matter with a view to unravelling the cause of the death of the cows.
Ussaini said elders had appealed to those affected by the loss not to take the laws into their hands. He, therefore, appealed to the authorities concerned to look into the matter.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Idirisu Keneth, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that the command received information concerning the death of the 20 cows and had commenced investigation into the matter.