12 Killed in Fresh Cult War in Rivers
From Okon Bassey in Port Harcourt
Twelve people were believed shot dead in a bloody exchange between people suspected to be cultists and a combined team of military personnel in Port Harcourt yesterday.
THISDAY gathered that the gunmen had overrun the Marine Base in the city and killed about five residents before the team of security personnel swooped on them and gunned down about seven of the cultists.
The invasion which occurred at about 5am Sunday morning along the Marine Base, Amadi Creek, close to the state police headquarters on Moscow road also left more than 80 cars badly damaged while kiosks along the water front were burnt down.
The latest attack on the Marine Base, coming a week after a similar event occurred at the Njamanze water front in which 10 people died, has led to mass exodus of non-indigenes residing at various water fronts in the state.
Prior to this incident, THISDAY checks reveal that the gunmen had served notice to residents living along all water fronts in the state including areas called Abuja, Creek road, Dockyard to quit. The cultists had claimed that they were not allowed to stay or operate from water fronts in the state..
The attackers, another source said, are suspected to be from Diobu area and those living in a section of the city popularly called 'Town'.
Residents in the area told THISDAY that they woke-up in the morning to an intensive exchange of gun fire between 5am and 9am.
According to sources, police succeeded in killing some of the gunmen after pilots of the flying boats the cultists used for the invasion were shot.
As at the time of filling this report, residents in the affected areas were seen packing their properties and fleeing the environment.
Ambulance and some other vehicles were also seen conveying corpses of the victims from the Marine Base just as a combined team of more than 60 mobile policemen and soldiers have completely cordoned off the area.
The Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Sylvester Araba, confirmed the report but said only three people were killed. He said the violent clash was between armed men suspected to be members of rival cult groups operating in boats along Marine canals and water ways.
Following the sporadic shooting and invasion of water fronts by the combatants, he said anti-crime policemen have been deployed to fortify all Marine jetties, beaches and wharfs to counter the hoodlums and prevent their possible incursion into Port Harcourt metropolis.
"Three suspects have been arrested in this connection while a contigent of the Rivers State joint security operations have been deployed to cordon off and protect all vulnerable points," the police commissioner stated.
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