From Judex Okoro, Calabar
Four persons are feared dead in a bloody clash among three rival cult groups in Cross River State.
While three persons were killed in Ogoja, as a result of the cult war between the Vikins and the KKK in Abakpa,Ogoja Local Government Area in northern part of the state, one person was killed along Target-Berckles Davis Street in Calabar South, during a battle for supremacy between Italian and Vikings, at the weekend.
Daily Sun gathered that two, out of the three shot dead in Ogoja, were believed to be cult members from the community while one was a student of Ogoja campus of Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH).
A witness, John Ogar, told Daily Sun that the killings, which started at the weekend, was ignited by one of the kingpins who inflicted machete cuts on a rival cult member following a minor disagreement.
With a vow to retaliate, the other rival group re-grouped and organised reprisal, which led to the killing of the boy who had earlier inflicted machete cuts on one of the rival cult members about Saturday midnight.
The witness said the development let to series of attacks and subsequent killing of another cultist that same night.
Angered by the trend, it was learnt, youths of the community, whose call to the cult groups to lay down their arms fell on deaf ears, rose against the warring factions.
This, it was gathered, resulted into a mob action and killing of one person on Sunday morning and burning down of houses alleged to be harbouring cultists and their cohorts
Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), John Inaku, who assessed the extent of damage revealed that about 12 houses were torched while household property of some of the identified cultists were removed and burnt. Inaku said his office is working with other stakeholders, including the police.
Confirming the incident, Police Public Relations Officer of the Cross River State Police Command, Ms Irene Ugbo, said: “We are aware of the incident and some people have been arrested in connection with the clash.”