By Jethro Ibileke
Three mobile policemen attached to Igarra Division of Edo State Command have been shot dead in a fierce gun battle with unknown gunmen.
A fourth one was seriously injured by the gunmen.
One of the assailants also died of gunshots while another sustained gunshot wounds and has been taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment and interrogation.
The incident was said to have occurred between 5:30am and 6am on Thursday, while they were resuming at their duty post near the popular Agor market, along the Igarra-Auchi Road, where the mobile policemen usually mount roadblock.
The checkpoint was reportedly established to check activities of kidnappers in the area who combed farm settlements in the area for kidnapping and ransom collection.
It was gathered that while the policemen were driving in their car and another one was riding on a motorcycle behind the vehicle, the assailants who apparently laid ambush opened fire on them.
The policeman on motorcycle was said to have engaged the assailants who fled into the bush with the four rifles of the policemen after killing them.
Following the attack, men of the local vigilante were called for reinforcement. They later combed the bush and traced the assailants to their hideout, where they recovered the four police rifles and another two belonging to the attackers.
The head of the local vigilante group in the area, Ibukun Dogo, while narrating the incident, said: “I got a call from the DPO around 6am that his men were attacked and we quickly mobilized to the place and saw the lifeless bodies of the three officers.
“We saw blood markings on the ground into the bush and we trailed that blood stains to a hideout of the suspects where we met two of them with gunshot injuries, one died from the gunshots while the other was taken away by the police to the hospital.
“We recovered the four police rifles and additional two in the area we found them.
“The suspect said they are from Okene, in Kogi State, but we don’t know their mission whether it is armed robbery or kidnapping they wanted to use the arms and ammunition for.”
When contacted, the State Police Command’s spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the Command was yet to get the details of what happened.
