By Stephen Osu
One week after Taraba state government relaxed the curfew imposed on Wukari town, fresh hostilities have erupted in the town resulting in the killing of 11 people, with many others, including 10 military men injured.
Police public relations office, ASP Joseph Kwaji, confirmed the incident, but said only four corpses had been recovered.
He denied knowledge of the injured military personal, but said the curfew has been re enforced for 24 hours.
The police spokesman explained that enough security personnel had been mobilized to the crisis area, emphasizing that with a combined team of security personnel, police, and mobile policemen as well as the military the crisis has been controlled and normalcy was slowly returning to the area
But a member of the Taraba State House of Assembly representing the area, Mr. Daniel Gani however confirmed the incident he also informed that ten military personnel were wounded in the crisis and about fifty other people also received gunshots even as several houses in the area were razed down by the attackers during the crisis.
This is the second time in less than two months when Wukari town would be enveloped in a serious crisis that would result in the loss of lives and personal effects of the people of the town.
There has been fragile security in Wukari and enviros for half a year now, several peace meetings have taken place both in Wukari and Jalingo towns but no much peace have been achieved through the efforts, as secret killings continued in the villages even after the peace agreement that was signed in April this year.
The most recent was the trouble that started yesterday when a kiosk meant for selling of recharge cards and making of phone calls was allegedly burnt by unknown men. The owner of the kiosk as alleged thought that his kiosk was razed down by the Christians within the vicinity of his business place. The location of the kiosk, Blueprint gathered was close to Government College Wukari and the closest church to the kiosk was the United Methodist Church of Nigeria, UMCN.
Angered by the incident, the owner of the kiosk allegedly mobilized his Muslim bothers to attack the Christians. The attack, it was gathered, started at the church as the alleged attackers came to the United Methodist Church of Nigeria, UMCN where it was alleged that lots of the members of the congregation were wounded even and others killed.
This generated a lot of crisis that took a dangerous dimension, not just in the outskirt of the town where the crisis was said to have started but extended to the township and two other neighboring towns of Ibi and Rafinkada.
