At least one person has been reported dead in a fresh outbreak of violence in the sleepy community of Nyuwar in Balanga Local Government area of Gombe State on Tuesday.
Several other persons, including a soldier deployed to maintain law and order in the community, were also said to have received gun injuries in the attack allegedly orchestrated by Waja youths on the Lunguda tribes of Nyuwar living between the borders of Gombe and Adamawa States.
Nyuwar is about two hours drive from Gombe the capital of Gombe State.
An eyewitness, Edwin Alhoki, said the violence broke out when Waja youths launched an attack on Nyuwar, shooting one of the soldiers stationed to maintain peace in the community after the April, 2020 attack.
He said the youths, who outnumbered the security operatives,later went on rampage setting houses on fire and attacking women and children.
According to him, the victim died on the way to hospital while the injured soldier was rushed to the Teaching hospital in Gombe.
Several houses were said to have been torched while women, children and the aged were forced to escape to neighbouring communities for refuge.
Tension is mounting in Jessu, a neighbouring community to Nyuwar as panicky residents hurriedly trooped out of the town for safety.
Nyuwar and Jessu, the two Lunguda communities, were attacked in April 2020 by the Wajas forcing many residents to relocate to neighbouring communities for safety.
Gombe Commissioner of Police Ishola Babaita said he was out of the State on a retreat at Uyo in Akwa Ibom State but his Deputy, Adamu Isa Ngorjin confirmed the incident.
Ngorjin, who also confirmed the shooting of a soldier, said normalcy has been restored and more security operatives have been deployed to the area.
He said he can not say much about the situation until he visits Nyuwar tomorrow.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya and his Adamawa counterpart last year brokered a peace accord tagged the “Numan Accord” between the Waja and Lunguda communities leaders at Numan.
Both Governor’s also funded the return of all displaced persons to their communities after normalcy was restored.
The accord however suffered a setback with the fresh attack on the Nyuwar community.