Tony John, Port Harcourt
Two Mobile Police (MOPOL) officers have been killed and their guns carted away in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Also, two civilians have sustained bullet wounds when gunmen struck along Timber-by Ojoto road, Mile 2, Diobu, in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of the state.
Our correspondent gathered that the two policemen were inside a Toyota Camry car accompanying a vehicle conveying cash to the bank when the gunmen ambushed them.
The two civilians, who sustained bullet injuries, were drivers of both vehicles.
They were later rushed to a nearby hospital, while the remains of the police officers who were first taken to the Iloabuchi-Azikiwe police station, were afterward deposited in a mortuary.
Spokesman of Diobu vigilance group, Prince Amatari-Bipelidei, who confirmed the incident to journalists, said the people were surprised at the activities of the gunmen whom he said, shot sporadically after killing the policemen.
Sources within the area of the crime disclosed that the armed youths succeeded in carting away an undisclosed amount of cash from the victims.
Amatari-Bipelidei, however, blamed delay in the establishment of Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps or equipping of the local vigilance group for the prevailing insecurity in the state.
He said until government made haste to equip those who know and have all it takes to fight the crime from the grassroots, insecurity would continue to increase.
The state police command is yet to confirm the killing of the two policemen.