Unconfirmed reports say the death toll in the three-day-old ethnic clash between the Konkombas and Bimobas in the Bunkpurugu Yunyoo district of the Northern Region, has risen to five, with many others injured. About three hundred houses are also said to have been razed in overnight fighting that has spread to several villages. Joy News correspondents in the Northern Region say the Regional Security Council was ready to send a team of soldiers to re-enforce a police team sent top maintain the peace in the area. Anthony Gingong, a resident of the area who spoke to Joy News at midday, said the police team had obviously been overwhelmed by the situation. Earlier reports suggested three people had died. The immediate cause of the conflict is a disagreement between two men from different groups at the Jimbali Market in the district on Sunday. But residents say the underlying causes are manifold; including a long standing feud over land, ownership of a local market and a dispute of supremacy between two local chiefs. After the clash on Sunday, the situation degenerated when other people believed to be from the two ethnic groups in contention, mobilised themselves and attacked one another after information went round that their kinsmen were involved in a fight at the market. According to Anthony Gingong, the people in the district who are engaged in the fighting have no electricity and telecommunications facilities, and appear to be receiving funding from some powerful influences ‘because on their own, they cannot even afford to buy cutlasses’ but are armed with sophisticated weapons. (Listen to the attached audio for more on Anthony Gingong's explanations.)