Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt
The Nigerian Army in Rivers State has said its men yesterday shot and killed five suspected cultists during a fierce gun battle in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Lovernment Area of the state.
The General Officer Commanding, 6 Division, Port Harcourt, Major General Kasimu Abdulkarim, confirmed the incident to journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday.
He also disclosed that five AK 47 riffles had so far been recovered by the army from hoodlums in the local government area since the new year.
“The army has recorded appreciable success in its bid to rid the local government of cultists and brigands. We have recovered a total of five AK47 riffles from cultists in the area since January 1,” he said.
Abdulkarim said the army had overwhelmed hoodlums in the local government area.
A source in the community said the army responded to a distress call in Omoku on Tuesday night when the cultists stormed the town shooting sporadically.
The cultists were said to have killed two young men in the community before the arrival of the soldiers who engaged them in a duel.
THISDAY gathered that the corpses of two of the cultists recovered on Palace Road in the area were displayed at the police station in Omoku. The other three were found at the end of the battle with the soldiers.
It would be recalled that the army recently launched an operation to clean up the local government of hoodlums and brigands.
The Nigerian Army, in the new year, said it recovered one AK47 assault rifle and uniforms belonging to DSP Mohammed Alkali and his police orderly who were beheaded by suspected cultists in Rivers State during the December 10, 2016 rerun elections.
The police officer and his orderly were ambushed and killed by suspected cultists while on routine duty in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State during the rerun election in the state Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt last Sunday, Abdulkarim said troops from the Division made the recovery during a raid on four militant camps and cultist hideouts in Ujju community near Omoku in ONELGA.
He said troops also recovered assorted types of arms and ammunition stashed away by bandits in the area.
