Three people have been reported dead in a renewed chieftaincy dispute at Tumtumba, a mining community in the Bole District of the Northern Region.

The three are reported to have died from gunshots Wednesday night in the fight between supporters of the two rival chiefs in the community all of who are claiming to be the rightful chief of the people, TV3’s Zubaida Ismail has reported.

Source told our correspondent that the fight which started simmering four days ago, has been the results of a disagreement over which of the chiefs should receive mining royalties.

One of the rivalry chiefs is said to have been enskined by the Bole-wura while the other was enskined by the Yagbon-wura  who is the overlord of Gonja.

Our sources say the miners have been paying royalties to one of the two chiefs thus enriching him; something that has triggered the supporters of the other chief to rise up leading to the Wednesday clashes.

The bodies of the deceased have been picked by family members but they can’t even bury then because of the tension in the area,” Zubaida reported, adding that the Police in Bole have taken over the town but waiting for reinforcement from Tamale.

Although  both the Police Command and the Bole District Assembly are tight-lipped on the matter, highly placed sources within the assembly confirmed the incident to our correspondent Thursday but declined to give further details.

By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter @3NewsGh