Dozens of houses have been burnt and and hundreds of people displaced in what appears to be a revenge attack in an ongoing community conflict in Koch Goma sub county, Nwoya District on Wednesday evening.
The attack came after the release of one, David Livingstone Lakony who was arrested early this month in connection to the death of five family members who were burnt to death in Kal A village in Koch Goma Sub County.
Lakony, a prominent business man in Gulu District was arrested along with four other suspects and had been remanded to Gulu Central Prison after being charged with five counts of murder in relation to the January 5 incident. Police preliminary investigation indicated that the suspect could have had a land wrangle with the deceased.
However, Lakony was on Wednesday granted bail by the Gulu Resident High Court Justice Vincent Okwanga. In an interview with NTV Gulu High Court Chief Registrar Henry Twinomuhwezi say Lakony David Livingstone was granted bail on grounds of ill health.
After Lakony was granted bail, relatives of the deceased who hail from Kal Acheng clan stormed court protesting his release. Moments later, they went on rampage attacked the clan members of Ponok and Amar Adwonga where the suspect is said to belong.
Mr John Bosco Okullu the Koch Goma sub county Chairperson confirmed the incident to Daily Monitor in a telephone interview.
"There is a lot of chaos right now in my area. More than 70 huts have been torched over the release of the suspect, we believe many huts are going to be torched because they are so rowdy," Mr Okullu said.He said although police fire brigade and antiriot Police personnel had been deployed to quell the situation, their numbers could not match the rowdy crowd.He said no death or cases of injury had been reported yet.
Additional reporting by Julius Ocungi | Daily Monitor