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Investigations conducted by DAILY GUIDE uncovered that victims of the recent ethnic clashes that broke out in Nakpanduri late last Wednesday were subjected to series of torture with their bodies chopped into pieces by their assailants. In each of the cases, police confirmed that opposing factions chopped off limbs and private parts of their victims and allowed them to bleed to death while others were slaughtered like animals. The decapitated bodies were later abandoned at secret locations until a combined police and military patrol team uncovered them. The situation is said to have heightened tension in the area with reports of exchange of gunfire between security reinforcement on the ground and combatants. Highly placed security source hinted DAILY GUIDE that both factions have armed themselves to the teeth with sophisticated weapons in preparation to launch retaliatory attacks. Last Thursday police managed to retrieve a Mag 3 machine gun from one of the warriors who upon seeing police abandoned the weapon and took to his heels. The insecurity in the area was reported to have heightened with fears that it could escalate to other communities in view of the latest tactics adopted by both groups in attacking the other. The death toll since last Wednesday has been estimated at four with only two of the deceased persons being identified as Yechain, 32 and Sumari Pangari, 35. Four houses have been torched in the latest clashes with no injuries at the time of filing this report but residents have all fled Kpemali to neighbouring communities despite intensification of police presence. It would be recalled that there was renewed clashes between Bimobas and Konkombas at Kpemali, a farming community near Nakpanduri in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo district. The bodies of two victims have since been uncovered by the police and deposited at the Baptist Medical Centre (BMC) in Nalerigu for autopsy while efforts were still underway to find the third person. It is unclear what may have fuelled the latest violence which begun late Wednesday night with the burning down of several houses amidst sporadic exchange of gunfire. Police however indicated to DAILY GUIDE that it had direct linkage to a similar incident which broke out about two months ago resulting in the death of three persons. At the time of filing this report, no arrest had been made but security had been stepped up in Nakpanduri and its environs with reports that most men had fled the town for fear of arrest. A similar incident on March 6, this year resulted in the death of one Tennilaar Doelar who had his limbs chopped off. The deceased, a teacher, was said to be one of two persons abducted in the heat of the clashes by an opposing faction and subjected to the inhumane treatment. Several other persons suffered gunshot and machete wounds with more than 50 houses torched rendering over 1,000 residents homeless. Security personnel who were on a rescue mission were also not spared when the vehicle they were travelling in was involved in a fatal accident. According some of the victims who spoke to DAILY GUIDE their driver reportedly lost control, veered off the road, resulting in the vehicle somersaulting severally. As a result nine police and two military officers were seriously injured and have since been treated and discharged.