Communal Clash Claims Nine Lives In Bayelsa State

By SaharaReporters, New York

At least nine persons were on Friday feared dead in Bayelsa State following a violent clash between Agudama-Epie and Akenfa communities in Yenagoa Local Government Area.  
Scores of others were missing. 
Agumada-Epie hosts the Central Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy and the South-South campus of the Nigeria Law School.
A community source said that the two neigbouring communities are locked in a dispute over a farm land behind the Law School campus. 
According to the source, who pleaded anonymity for safety reasons, youths of the two communities, armed with guns and machetes, attacked each other in a fierce battle in the early hours of today.
Nine corpses have so far been recovered while many others were said to have sustained various degrees of gun and machete injuries, the source said.  Five of the dead were said to be indigenes of Aguama-Epie.
The piece of land has been hotly disputed for many years but our source said that today’s clash was sparked off by the presence on the site of some members of a committee which was set up to resolve the dispute, a development which somehow angered some of the youths.
"The committee went to the land today, but their presence on the land did not go down well with some youths.
“Nine corpses have been recovered; youths from both communities are still missing while many others had gunshot injuries," the source said.
Bayelsa Police Command spokesman Alex Akhigbe confirmed the clash but declined to disclose the casualty figures.
He said the command had deployed policemen to the communities and that normalcy has been restored, but no arrests have been made.