Fighting zone declared

Enga’s Wapenamanda has been declared a fighting zone after 10 people were killed following a tribal fight between two clans from the Itikoion tribe.
Provincial police commander Chief Insp George Kakas said that the fight broke out between the Mupapalu and the Nenei tribes early last week over land.
“The inter-clan fighting became worse after the Sikin, Kaikin and other nearby clans, all from the same tribe, backed the Mupapalu clan and attacked the Nenei clan in a bid to take over their land.
“Ten people have been killed so far, only four have been accounted for, meaning four dead bodies had been brought in by police whilst the other six are still yet to be recovered.
“We’ve received requests from relatives to help recover their dead from enemy territory and on Tuesday, we managed to retrieve two bodies from the conflict zone, there are also countless numbers of people wounded and are in hospital,” he said. Kakas said that the Provincial Executive Council had therefore declared Wapenamanda a “fighting zone”.
“The situation is under control, we have two Papua New Guinea Defence Force platoons from Delta Company and Police Mobile Squad units 11 and 12, all on the ground,” he said.
“The security forces are carrying out patrols in the area and are also stationed in between the fighting clans, with some teams carrying out awareness and speaking with the communities to lay down their arms.”
Kakas appealed to the people to refrain from blocking roads and loitering around the main road areas.
“The declaration gives security personnel the power to carry out raids and arrests without an official complaint or warrant, both police and defence personnel will be carrying out raids and arresting people suspected of carrying out violence.” he said.