13 die in communal clash

Soldiers in Ikom, Cross River State, are mourning the death of three of their colleagues killed in a fresh communal clash in Boki local government area. The soldiers were among the 13 persons killed, at the last count, as reported by the police.

Etim Dickson, the police public relations officer in the state, confirmed the casualties in a crisis that started last weekend and escalated by Sunday morning, as able bodied men on the two sides shunned church by heading for the trenches.

The three soldiers were among those drafted to the scene from the Reece Battalion, Edor, in Ikom local government, to halt hostilities between the warring communities of Nsadop and Bansan in Boki, but met their waterloo on Sunday morning when their truck was waylaid by the fighters.

This resurgence of hostilities between the two communities is on the heels of fresh squabbles over ownership of the oil palm plantation located between them, which was cultivated in the 1960's by the Michael Okpara administration of the defunct Eastern Region.

Findings indicate that sophisticated weapons were allegedly used by retired military personnel on both sides to prosecute the fight, which sources in the areas said had claimed over 20 lives and properties.