Breaking News: Scores killed, several injured as Gbagy, herdsmen clash in Niger community

An unspecified number of people have been reportedly killed in Barkuta community of Beji district in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State following a bloody clash between the native Gbagy and herdsmen in the area.

The clash which occured in the early morning of Tuesday also saw several people from the both sides seriously injured and houses torched.

Although details of the clash were not known as at the time of filing this report, trouble was said to have started when the herdsmen allegedly killed a prominent farmer in the community, simply identified as Alhaji after he had protested to the herders’ abode on Monday (yesterday, August 26) evening over the invasion of farms by cattle.

It was further gathered that the Alhaji could not return from his mission to the herdsmen’s abode, leading to a search for him by the community early this morning (today, Tuesday, August 27) morning where his body was discovered in the bush.

This development angered the community who mobilized and stormed the herdsmen’s enclaves and in the resultant confrontation, several people were reportedly killed and many others injured.

At the moment, there is culpable fear and anxiety in the community and its environs as the people are beginning to move out in their numbers for fear of reprisal attacks.

There was as yet no statement from either the government or the police command over this development as at the time of this report, but a prominent political leader from the area who did not want his name in print, confirmed the incident to the in a telephone.

This latest bloody clash is coming barely eight years after a similar incident claimed the lives of over 50 people, while houses and food barns belonging to the natives were burnt.

Also 11 soldiers and a number of the villagers were killed in mysterious circumstances that have remained unravelled till date.

At that time, the immediate past Governor of the State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani had set up a judicial commission of inquiry to look into the remote causes of the incident but the report could not be made public until the end of his administration.

Daily Sun