No fewer than 45 people have been feared killed in a communal clash that erupted Fri­day between Ologba and Egba communities of Agatu Local Govern­ment Area of Benue State.

The incident came barely a month after Egba Village lost some 82 people in an invasion carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

According to the Commissioner of Po­lice of Benue State Command, Hycinth Dagala, the villages have been having a running battle over a fish pond. He, therefore, attributed the renewed crisis to the suspicion by the Egba community that the re­cent Fulani invasion against its people might have been orchestrated by Ologba village.

Sources within the vil­lage insisted that at least 45 persons had been killed in the renewed crisis, while fighting was still raging at the time of filing this report. Dagala confirmed that the crisis had claimed the lives of 23 people in Ologba community.

He, however, stated that calm had already been restored to the af­fected communities.

Commenting, on the incident, Deputy gov­ernorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded election, John Ngbede, who hails from the area, said the com­munities in dispute had a long standing matter.

He disclosed that many people were in­jured in the crisis which started on Friday eve­ning and that those dis­placed were now taking refuge in Ogbagaji, the headquarters of the Ag­atu Local Government Area.

*Adapted from Sunday Sun. Photo shows Suswan