Four soldiers, four policemen shot dead in Bayelsa

Unidentified gunmen on Thursday killed four soldiers and four policemen in separate attacks along the waterways of Nembe and Brass local government council areas of Bayelsa State.

A Lieutenant-Colonel was among the military personnel killed in the attack.

Eyewitnesses say the policemen and military personnel were ambushed by the yet to be identified gunmen suspected to be pirates in separate attacks.

According to investigations, the gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates, were said to be returning to their base after an operation when they ran into the military team along Ogbia- Brass River and opened fire, killing an officer suspected to be a Lt-Colonel and three Navy Ratings.

The same gunmen were said to have killed four marine policemen at a checkpoint in a bid to beat security checks.
Investigations indicated that as the gunmen approached the checkpoint and were flagged down by the policemen, they opened fire, killing four men on the spot while others jumped into the river with varying degrees of wounds.

A police source who was at the scene, said the number of policemen killed could not be ascertained, but four bodies have been recovered by the search team deployed in the area.

The state Commissioner of Police, Chris Olakpe, who was thrown into mourning, could not speak with newsmen on the incident, but the Command Spokesman, Mr. Emokpae Eguavoen confirmed the unfortunate incidents adding that soldiers and police officers were combing the areas for the culprits.

But the Media Coordinator, JTF, Lt. Col. Timothy Anthigha, said information regarding the killing of the soldiers was still sketchy.

“There are unconfirmed reports about an armed attack on a passenger boat which was carrying some military personnel this morning. The attack is suspected to have been carried out by some unknown gunmen. We don’t have any information on any casualty and we don’t have any information on where the passengers are. We are awaiting information from the unit closest to the scene of the incident,” Lt. Col. Anthigha said.