An attack by gunmen has left at least 15 persons dead in some villages in the Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State, with many people reportedly missing .
Eyewitness said the gunmen first attacked and burnt Ayiase village in Takum Local Government before heading for Tse-gbaun and Gaza villages in Donga.
A man and three of his sons were killed in Gaza village while three other victims were killed in Tse-gbaun and Ayiase villages.
Reports say there have been huge movement of people out of the communities to seek refuge in other towns.
Donga Local Government is one of the areas in the state where run-off election had been scheduled to hold on Saturday.
No group has claimed responsibility.
But a spokesman for the Taraba State Government on Security matters, Kabiru Pitiko, told Channels Television that the information gathered showed that cattle rustlers were behind the attack.
“From the information we are getting, it is some cattle rustlers that are bringing the problem. They will go and steal cattle from the Fulani and the Fulani will react,” he said.
Mr Pitiko further said that some security personnel had been deployed to the area to restore order, stressing that the attack will not affect the scheduled election.
“The situation now is that everything is in order now. We have sent some security personnel to go and take care of the place.
“The security report we are getting from there is that everything is normal.
“It will not affect the election,” he said.