Soldiers have been deployed to help restore order after a resurgent communal violence in Nigeria’s northern Gombe state has claimed six lives and left many more injured, the News Agency of Nigeria reported Thursday, quoting a Nigeria Red Cross official.
The official, Jonah Galadima, was also quoted as saying that 817 people had been displaced and over 250 houses burnt since last Saturday, when the age-old fighting between the Dadiya and Kaltungo people was re-ignited.
He said that many people had taken to the bush to escape from the crisis, adding: ”We want to get into the bush to assist but the situation is too risky because it is not everybody that knows the Red Cross. We are trying to secure security escort before going to assist.”
The police said 30 persons had been arrested in connection with the incident.
It was the latest in a series of ethno-religious crisis that has hit Nigeria’s northern region in recent years, leaving over 10,000 dead.
Late last month, a religious violence in Jos claimed over 300 lives, according to the police.