A fresh fracas between herdsmen/farmers erupted yesterday, as no fewer than five villages were completely razed, leaving several people killed in Song and Shelleng local government areas of Adamawa State.
Reports from the affected villages of Simba, Shure and other adjoining communities in Song and Shelleng Local Government Areas of the state, revealed that the herdsmen stormed the villages in a reprisal attack. According to the report, trouble began when herds of cattle overran a pond of water, the only source of drinking water for the community and attacked a woman fetching water there. The woman, according to the report, was macheted by the herdsmen for complaining over the roaming animals in the pond of drinking water. She then ran back to her community in her pool of blood and reported her experience in the hands of the herdsmen to members of her community. The development and sight of the bloodied woman infuriated the indigenes of the community who mobilized to the scene of the incidence.
In the ensuing confrontation, about four herdsmen were allegedly killed by members of the community and in a swift reprisal attack the herders launched a vicious assault on Simba and Shure villages and other adjoining communities where the entire villages were razed down killing an unspecified number of people. The state police Command has confirmed the attack through its spokesman Othman Abubakar, a Superintendent of Police.
The PPRO however could not give the causality figure, promising to get full details of the attack from the DPO in the area.