Police were still investigating the whereabouts of six persons yesterday when reports came on the behading of two people and the abduction of five others at Tumator Mbayange, bringing the missing figure to 11.
Two women are believed to be among the abductees.
Yangtu is between Takum (in Taraba) and Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue South.
The two neighbouring communities have been pitted against each other over a disputed land at Kaaor settlement, near the Army Barracks in Takum.
The affected areas include: Tompo, Age, Campo-Ugbenger, along Kashimbilla Road and Tse-Azer.
Sources said the hostilities have spilled over to the suburbs of Takum, despite police/army surveillance. Hundreds of residents are fleeing the area.
Residents of Taraba South have been up-in-arms against one another over land, as the area has the most fertile soil for cultivation in the sub-region.
Behind the festering feud is the battle to control the land.
In 2005, a similar clash between the Tiv and Kuteb claimed several lives. Farm produce and houses were destroyed.
It was gathered that a prelude to the latest crisis followed the missing of four Tiv farmers, which an eye-witness account claimed, triggered the fresh round of violence.
What began as skirmishes last week snowballed into a fierce and full-scale offensive.
“Many are being killed in different locations in a string of attacks”, a source said.
The police are still searching for the missing persons, their spokesman, Joseph Kwaji, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) told The Nation.
Kwaji said: “We are still searching. As I speak with you, the State Commissioner of Police, Jubril Adeniji, has deployed our men to the area to search for the four farmers who went to their farmlands and couldn’t return home.
“We are also searching for two persons – wood cutters, who went for logging and couldn’t come back. As at today (yesterday), the bodies of the six missing persons have not been recovered. Nobody knows whether they are still alive or dead.”
Coordinator of Yangtu Development Area, Mr. Kefas Maiyaki, said the casualty figure could not be ascertained.
He said: “This is a war taking place in the forest. You can’t exactly know who and who and how many people have been killed.
“For instance, the bodies of the four farmers killed have not been recovered. But I am asking the government to intervene speedily to maintain law and order in the area”.
He preached peaceful co-existence between the warring communities.
“My prayer is for the displaced residents to go back to their homes and farms, as continued violence could lead to food shortage and other economic woes,” he said.
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