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Nigeria: Armed Men Dressed in Military Uniform Kill 2 Policemen
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Leadership (Abuja)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Bayelsa
Armed men dressed in military uniforms invaded Okiki Community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and killed two policemen after sacking the police station located in the area.
The unknown gunmen were reported to have also carted away arms and ammunition from the police station.
The attack in Okiki community was the second time a police station would be attacked, as a similar attack was carried out on the Ammassoma divisional police division in the Southern Ijaw local government area of the state with unspecified number of fire arms taken away and examination scripts of candidates in the on-going West African Examination Council.
Security sources told Leadership that the armed youths came into the Okiki community around 3.30am and started shooting sporadically to discourage any form of resistance from the indigenous youths. They were reported to have come into the community through the waterside.
A prominent indigene and Bayelsa State House Committee Chairman on Information, Media and Publicity, Hon. Robert Enoa, expressed shock at the attack and said it has left him and many other indigenes devastated. He however could not place the reason for such attack on the police station.
Several attempts by Leadership and few other newsmen to get the reaction of the state commissioner of police, Mr. Julian Opaleke, proved difficult as he was said to be very busy due to series of meetings being held with his divisional heads. At a point, a call came through to newsmen that he was in another meeting with the wife of the vice president, Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan, in the state government house.
Contacted on the incident, commander of the Joint Military Task Force in the state, Col. Chris Musa, confirmed the incident but said he lacked details. He said the command had sent a request to the state police command to furnish it with details in order to assist in the search for the invaders and killer of the policemen.
Meanwhile, a US national was found dead in the early hours of yesterday on board a vessel anchored at the Nigerian port of Onne, near the country's restive oil city of Port Harcourt, a military spokesman said.
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The man, identified as Mr. Steve Degerstrom, was working for a foreign shipping firm at the time of his death.
According to Lieutenant-Colonel Musa Sagir, "The man was a US citizen. He was found dead early hours of yesterday in the vessel. We are still investigating the circumstances of his death", he told AFP.
Although Port Harcourt, the hub of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry, has been the central point of violence in recent months, however, there was no immediate indication that this latest death was linked to the activity of armed groups of the region.
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