60 Killed In Ezilo

At least 60 people have been reportedly killed in Ezilo, Ebonyi State, Southeast Nigeria.

Reports say the community was invaded by gun-wielding men who arrived in several buses at the weekend.

Among the dead is the Divisional Crime Officer in the area.

Security operatives have been deployed to the area to forestall further bloodshed.

In recent years there had been bloody communal clashes between the Ezza and Ezilo people of Ebonyi State, with scores of people killed and houses set ablaze.

Travellers on the Abakaliki-Enugu highway were also killed and their vehicles burnt by the fighters in the heat of the war in 2010.

Parts of the affected communities on the Abakaliki-Enugu highway have remained desolate two years after the war ended as the villagers who fled have not yet returned to rebuild their houses that were completely destroyed during the war.

Despite the presence of soldiers who were deployed there to stop the war, the combatants have oiled their guns and have wreaked havoc again this festive period.