From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Unidentified gunmen on Saturday have reportedly killed five persons in Oyigbo Local Government Area, Rivers State.
Sun News Online gathered that murdered persons are patients with bullet wounds receiving treatment at a medical facility in the area and a nurse treating the victims.
According to reports, four of the victims were among the group of ‘unknown gunmen’ that killed seven policemen in Rivers last week and fled with bullet wounds.
Unconfirmed indications alleged that the four persons were killed by a tactical team of the Nigeria Police Force, who had stormed the hideout where the fleeing wounded gunmen were receiving medical attention.
The murdered gunmen were reportedly being treated by the nurse identified simply as Chichi at the hidden area of Oyigbo, when the squad rounded up the building and opened fire on them.
A source, who did not want to be mentioned, said one of the victims who was on drip at an area hospital, sensed danger and attempted to scale the fence, but was gunned down by the invaders who had besieged the area.
The source claimed that the gunmen came on two patrol vans and a Sienna and gained access into the building and killed three others receiving treatment.
According to the source, the nurse was caught up in the gunfire and the patient-victims were responsible for the recent murder of seven policemen in the coordinated attacks on security formations along the East-West Road and Elimgbu Police Station.
Similarly, a senior security source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the fleeing gunmen were trying to get medical treatments for multiple bullet wounds they sustained during gun duel with security operatives.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Friday Eboka, was said to have told journalist that the people who carried out the operation were not policemen.
‘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,’ he stated.
‘They went there and people heard gunshots. Before police could get there, the gunmen have entered their vehicles 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 operation by police, it must be reported at the nearest police station. The people that carried out the act are not policemen. It was an 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 of gun wounds. The people that killed them are not policemen.’