6 Killed, Houses Burnt In Renewed Anambra Communal Crisis

The people of Omor and Anaku communities in Ayamelum local government area of Anambra State have once again taken arms against each other with about six persons killed and one person kidnapped.

Also, houses were said to have been set ablaze and Improvised Explosive Devices planted waiting to be detonated at any time.

A native of Omor community who spoke on condition of anonymity narrated that in the early hours of yesterday a native of Anaku community he simply identified as Vulture invaded their Omor community through Ezi-Eke with his gang members and killed five persons in the town.

He said the victims included three natives and two non-natives. While he identified one of the non-natives, a commercial tricycle (keke) rider as an indigene of a neighbouring Umuerum town, the second person according to the source hailed from a town in the neighbouring Enugu State.

The source stated further that the three natives of the community killed included two women, one of whom he said was in her compound very early in the morning making fire to prepare breakfast for the family. He also said that the other victims were killed along the road on their way for their early morning activities.

“We don’t know what prompted the attack, but some elders of our community have been advised to go and make a report to the police.

“Vulture and his gang invaded our community between 4.30am and 5am today (February 6). We heard that some of those he came with were hiding in the bushes while he was the person that did some of the killings”, he said further.

But a source in the Anaku community who also craved anonymity accused the people of Omor community of invading their community, and planting explosives waiting to burn their town.

The source said that two persons who claimed that they were being sponsored by the Omor community to carry out the attack on Anaku had already been arrested by the town vigilante operatives and handed over to the police at Anaku police station.

He gave names of the two persons as one Ilommaduaburochi, a native of Ihembosi in Nnewi South local government and Amaechi Okoye. He said that already these suspected hoodlums have killed a woman in their Anaku village and kidnapped a boy. He also said that some houses have been set ablaze in their community.

He said that both Ilommaduaburochi and Amaechi Okoye had already given to Anaku vigilante group names of Omor people who are sponsoring them, adding that the duo had already been handed over to the police at Anaku police station.

When contacted, spokesman of the police in Anambra State, deputy superintendent of police, DSP, Ikenga Tochukwu confirmed the renewed communal war between the two communities and said that a combined police and military team had been deployed to the area.

He however did not confirm the casualty figure but simply said that the command had mounted heavy security watch on the communities.

Omor and Anaku have been at war over communal land which at different times had claimed several lives and property, including houses and shops burnt in the communities.