One person has been reported dead and several others injured as members of the Rivers State Taskforce on Road Decongestion and traders of Northern extraction clashed at Bonny Street and Creek Road in Port Harcourt.

Eyewitnesses told Kristina Reports that a yet-to-be-identified man in his mid-thirties suspected to be of Northern extraction was macheted and died instantly in the fracas.  

Security operatives rushed into the area to quell the crisis that was already spreading to other parts of the township area of the Rivers State capital.

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Kristina Reports sighted several police vehicles parked at strategic points and heavily armed security operatives at different parts of the Yam Zone trying to disperse the traders and hoodlums, who were trying to take advantage of the situation.  

Eyewitnesses say that trouble started at about 9 am when the taskforce members invaded the area and carted away some birds from the traders there in the course of clearing the road for traffic to flow.

They further disclosed that the taskforce members later returned for a second operation and started breaking the windscreen of lorries parked along the road which irked the traders and resulted in a confrontation between the two groups that led to the death of the young man.  

The killing of their counterpart by the taskforce sparked the uproar by the Northern traders, who also started destroying vehicles and other valuables of the residents and passersby.

An eyewitness said they later marched towards the office of the taskforce but where turned back by the police.  

More security operatives are said to have been drafted to the area to maintain the peace.