Militants, operating in the creeks of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, have killed eight persons in Lobia community in a deadly attack that occurred on Sunday afternoon.
Our correspondent gathered that Judah, the younger brother to a former militant leader, Mr. Reuben Wilson, popularly known as Pastor, was among the victims of the onslaught that happened in the same community, where 12 policemen were killed on April 5.
It was further gathered that five ex-militants, who had embraced the Amnesty programme of the Federal Government under Pastor, were among persons confirmed dead after the violence.
While sources told our correspondent that the incident occurred on Saturday night, the Joint Task Force, code-named Operation Pulo Shield, said it happened at about 2pm on Sunday.
But it was gathered that the victims were tricked to their creeks by their attackers, who later shot them dead and abandoned their corpses along the Lobia 1 waterside.
The killers were said to be the gunmen who killed the 12 policemen.
While some persons said the victims were killed in cold blood after they were led to the spot by messengers of the gunmen, others said they died after an exchange of gunfire.
Sympathisers were seen clustering the home of Pastor, who confirmed the development to our correspondent.
The Media Coordinator, JTF, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the incident occurred when two armed gangs clashed in Lobia 1.
He, however, said unspecified number of people died in the incident.
He said, “There was an armed collision between two armed groups at Lobia 1 in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which led to the death of unspecified number of persons.”
Punch
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