Gunmen (file photo)

*Police confirm incident, but deny carrying out the onslaught

By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

A team of gunmen suspected to be undercover security agents  on Thursday shot and killed five persons, including one Uchechi Enyioma, an auxiliary nurse in Okpulor village, Iriebe community of Obio-Akpor local government area of Rivers State.

However, unconfirmed report alleged that the five persons were killed by a tactical team of the undercover  policemen, who had stormed the hideout where the men suspected to be among those who killed seven policemen recently in the state were receiving medical attention.

The auxiliary Nurse was said to be harbouring and treating the four men who allegedly sustained gun injuries during confrontation with the policemen they killed.

The undercover agents were said to have broken into the apartment, shot the four persons being treated for gunshot injuries and Uchechi dead.

It was gathered that one of the men who tried to escape by trying scaling a fence in of the compound was also shot dead.

Speaking on the development when contacted, Mr. Friday Eboka, the Commissioner of Police stated that the people who carried out the act were not Policemen.

Eboka said before the District Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area and his men could get to the scene, the killers had concluded their mission and fled.

He explained further that policemen who rushed to the scene, only saw the five dead bodies and later recovered many charms.

He said: “That matter was reported at Oyibo Police Station. The people involved are not policemen. We heard that four of them were taking treatment in a clinic before the unknown armed men went there with two Hilux vans and a Sienna.

“They went there and people heard gunshots. Before police could get there, the gunmen entered their vehicle and drove away. The policemen met dead bodies of the four guys and the young woman (nurse). I told the DPO to move those dead bodies while we investigate the matter.

“But, obviously, they are not Policemen. If there must be an operation by Police, it must be reported at the nearest Police Station. The people that carried out the act are not Policemen. It was unknown armed men and not Policemen.

“The people they killed were actually receiving treatment of their gun wounds. When the DPO got there, they recovered the receipt of their treatment. They recovered charms. They were receiving treatment for gun wounds. The people that killed them are not Policemen,”

 Governor Nyesom Wike had announced that some of the gunmen who killed security personnel in the state had been apprehended and would be charged to Court.

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