Rivers State Police Command on Saturday deployed no fewer than 250 riot policemen in Ogoni community to quell rising tension and killings resulting from communal conflict.
The riot policemen, backed by an Armoured Personnel Carrier, took off from the state police headquarters on Moscow Road around 11am on Saturday.
The policemen reported at the Mbogho/Bodo boundary around midday and took positions to stall further killings and destruction of property by rival militias, who had been fighting for supremacy over a disputed parcel of land.
No fewer than seven persons had reportedly lost their lives in the first two days of the fracas, which erupted on Thursday night, forcing some natives to flee their homes to escape being caught in the crossfire.
Eyewitnesses said trouble started following the inexplicable death of a 62-year-old woman who had gone to her farm near the disputed land between the two neighbours.
Irked by the death of the woman from one of the two communities, angry persons from the other settlement, attacked their neighbours whom they suspected of murdering the woman.
Dangerous weapons were reportedly freely used in the encounter, which erupted over the killing of the woman.
A native of one of the communities residing in Port Harcourt told our correspondent that no fewer than 10 persons had been killed on both sides as at Saturday morning when the people arrived the troubled spot.
Sources said that the involvement of armed cultists who had been fighting for some politicians in the area worsened the communal clash and raised the death toll.
He said the matter degenerated when one of the politicians claimed that his family house had been destroyed by unnamed persons and threatened to take action.
Police Public Relations Officer in the State Police Command, Mr. Ireju Barasua, confirmed the deployment of policemen to the Ogoni community in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday.
She said that the deployment of the men was to forestall the escalation of the violence and destruction of lives and property.
Barasua, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, however, declined to comment on casualty figure, saying that the police were more concerned with the protection of life and property in the area.
Rivers State Finance Commissioner, Mr. Kenneth Kobani, a native of Bodo, on Sunday appealed to both parties to sheath their sword and allow peace to reign in the area.