From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Many people were killed, many injured, while property worth several millions of Naira were destroyed in renewed hostilities between the Karimjo and Wurkun ethnic groups in Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State.
A local source told Daily Sun that the death toll could be more than twenty .
Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Usman Abdulahi,said violence started at the early hours of Saturday when the Karimjo ethnic group launched a heavy attack on the Wurkun people.
The PPRO, however, said the number of casualties were yet-to- be ascertained, but a joint security team of military and police has been drafted to the area to calm the situation.
Abdullahi told our Correspondent, that the fresh crises between the two ethnic groups escalated on Saturday morning as guerrilla attacks.
“In the last few days, there have been pockets of guerrilla attacks between Karimjo,and the Wurkun people in the area. It has been that either the Karimjos, attack the Wurkuns and the Wurkuns attack in return or the Wurkuns attack the Karimjo and they also attack in return before the Karimjo eventually launched a heavy attack on the Wurkuns at around 3:am on Saturday”.
Meanwhile, some locals under the umbrella of Wurkun Youth Ambassador World Wide, have condemned the attack on their people, and appealed to Governor Agbu Kefas, to deploy more security personnel to restore normalcy in the area.
The group’s spokesman, Amb. Seth Samuel Sule, narrated that the the people attacked Garin Marwa,Sarkin Kudu, Sallamin Kala, and Yashi Pena Communities, which belonged to the Wurkun on the same Saturday morning.
According to him, a yet- to- be ascertained number of people have been killed and over 3000 people displaced, while property, farm crops, and animals belonging to the Wurkuns worth millions of naira have been destroyed.
Our Correspondent gathered that the latest killings and destruction of property in the state happened barely a week after Governor Kefas, met with traditional rulers, and heads of security agencies on the need to foster peace and attract development in the state.
There has been growing tension between the two ethnic groups following a chieftaincy tussle that started towards the end of the tenure of the last administration in the state.