JUST IN: 10 Feared Killed, Entire Village Razed During Clash Between Gombe, Adamawa Communities

Not fewer than 10 people have been reportedly killed while houses and other valuables were burnt completely during a communal clash between three communities in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State and the border of Adamawa State.

The communal clash was between Waja people and their Lunguda neighbours from Adamawa State as they are sharing border settlements and have been engaged in clashes over the years.

A source from Nyuwar, the villages razed down, disclosed that the attack on the village was first carried out at about 11:00 p.m. on Monday and it continued till Tuesday before the arrival of security personnel to the area.

The source added that the entire Nyuwar village was set ablaze while the residents were chased out by the attackers who were said to have stormed with various weapons and overpowering the people.

While narrating the cause of the recent clash, the source told Tribune Online that it started from a misunderstanding between a group of hunters from Jessu village and another group of herders from Lunguda in Adamawa State due to the lack of trust between the two border communities.

He added that earlier on Monday, a group of hunters from Jessu had gone to the forest for hunting expedition when they ran into a group of Fulani boys who then raised an alarm, thereby attracting the attention of others.

The older ones were alleged have started shooting at the people without finding out what the problem was and later in the evening stared torching houses and chased the people away.

Another source who is an indigene of Nyuwrar but resident in Gombe metropolis said that from what she was told by her parents, the situation was beyond them as no single house was spared by the attackers.

A woman, who gave her name simply as Miss Lydia and who just returned from the area but resident in Bauchi, expressed shock over the incident, saying that too many lives have been lost due to the incessant communal clashes in the area.

Meanwhile, Gombe State Police Command has deployed armed personnel to the area in conjunction with other security agencies to keep law and order and make sure that normalcy was returned.