At least 20 farmers are believed to have been hacked to death in the early hours of Sunday at Dan-anacha in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State. Most of the farmers were killed on their farms.

Locals told Anadolu Agency that the clashes were between Fulani herdsmen and the Tiv community.

“The clashes began yesterday (Saturday) after two Fulani men were found dead and their cattle stolen. The tension led to reprisals and violent clashes between the two groups.

“We know of 20 casualties at the moment,” Terh Victor, a local from the area, told Anadolu Agency by phone on Sunday.

The acting Chairman of Concerned Taraba Tiv Youth Frontier, Mr Dooior Torkula, alleged that the attackers broke into most of the victims’ houses while they slept and murdered them.

He further said that 18 other persons were left badly injured.

The acting chairman said the bodies were recovered at about 3am on Sunday.

Torkula said calm had returned to the area following the arrival of armed mobile policemen.

Police spokesman David Misal confirmed the attacks but did not say how many people were killed.

“I cannot say exactly how many casualties there are at the moment. But security agents have been deployed while investigation has begun to track down the attackers,” Misal told Anadolu Agency.

He said that the police would soon release the casualty figure. “It was an undercover attack by some unidentified people in the area,” Misal said.

He said the police would soon conduct a thorough search for the perpetrators of the wicked act through intelligence gathering.

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