Gunmen Kill Police Sergeant, Injure Two In Bayelsa
Gunmen have attacked a police patrol team along Kolo Road in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa, killing a police sergeant.
The Tide source learnt that the assailants also made away with the weapon of their victim.
The spokesman of the Bayelsa State Police Command, Mr Asinim Butswat, who confirmed the development, told our source yesterday in Yenagoa that the incident took place on September 4.
Butswat said that a police corporal and a civilian were also injured in the attack, the latest in the string of militant attacks in the resource-rich Niger Delta.
According to him, the injured corporal and the civilian have been admitted in a hospital for medical attention.
"The Bayelsa State Police Command wishes to use this medium to inform the general public that on Sept. 4 at about 8:30 p.m., policemen on vehicular patrol along Kolo 2, Ogbia Local Government Area were attacked by unknown gunmen.
"The policemen, based on a tip-off, intercepted a vehicle conveying suspected militants.
"Two of the suspects were arrested and handcuffed but resisted any attempt by the policemen to search their vehicle.
"In the ensuing uproar, members of the community gathered around the vehicle and rescued the arrested suspects and the policemen were attacked.
"The command regrettably, lost a police sergeant and arms, a police corporal and a civilian were injured and are responding to treatment in hospital.
"Members of the public are advised to assist the police in fighting crime, rather than to compound police investigation as the crowd was partly responsible for the attacked on the policemen," Butwat said.
Nigerian troops have been locked in bloody showdowns with militants in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's resource base for many years.
However, an amnesty programme introduced by the Federal Government brought a thaw in the conflict but the militants are still throwing deadly punches intermittently.
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