From: Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

Several persons were feared killed and many houses destroyed on Sunday evening attacks on villages in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba  State.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP David Missal, who confirmed the attacks, said the casualty figures could not be ascertained as at press time, but assured that there has been reinforcements of security operatives to curb the situation and avoid its further deterioration.

Some of the residents who spoke to our correspondent said that several persons lost their lives in the attack while cattle and houses were also destroyed.

A resident of one of the affected villages, Malam Bello Haruna,  said  several Mambilla youths, led by  militiamen invaded his village and  shot several persons.

He said the attackers also set ablaze all the houses in the village and killed many cattle, adding that he managed to escape along with his two children and wife.

Another source, Malam Ibrahim Dauda, from Ngouroge town, told our reporter in a telephone interview, that the militiamen attempted to launch an attack on Ngouroge town, on Saturday, but failed due to the arrival of a detachment of soldiers.

Dauda explained that in spite of the dusk-to-dawn curfew was enforced in the town by the soldiers, the militiamen succeeded in attacking some  surrounding villages and settlements, on Sunday

Daily Sun reports that tension has been mounting in Taraba State for the past week following a protest staged by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association and other affiliate bodies against a Bill at the state Assembly that seeks to control open grazing and encourage ranching in the state.

It would be recalled that the group declared a one week strike on beef, and asked all its members not to sell beef or cow and all products of cow thereof to press home their demand for the state Assembly to drop the Bill as “it is obnoxious and targeted at their members and their legitimate business”.