From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Ajaokuta Local Government Area of Kogi State has come under serious threat again as gunmen suspected to be bandits on Friday evening waylaid a vehicle conveying workers of the West Africa Ceramic Company, Ajaokuta, killing six of them and abducted about three of the workers.
The killed workers include two Indian expatriates, two of their police escorts and two drivers of the company who were ambushed as they closed from work on Friday.
The attack in the area was the third in the last one week as three policemen and five vigilance members were killed in the first incident while gunmen invaded the residence of a businessman in the heart of the town and his three children kidnapped in the second incident.
As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear about the actual number of the workers abducted by the gunmen and carried to the forest neither were the names of the affected victims given.
However, the Kogi State Police Command through its spokesman, Willy Aya, in a statement confirmed the incident, adding that the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Egbuka, has visited the scene for an on-the-spot assessment and has equally ordered the deployment of additional mobile force and counter-terrorism unit to the area.
The statement reads in part: “Meanwhile, two expatriates, two company drivers and two police inspectors died in the exchange of fire with the hoodlums, before the area commander and a detachment of military in the area reinforced to the scene of incident, and the attackers fled.
“The CP assures that the command is committed to working in synergy with other security agencies as well as patriotic stakeholders to make the state a safe and secure place for all and sundry.
“He has further tasked the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) to commence investigations into the unfortunate incident so as to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the attack with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.”