Gunmen kill 2 police officers in Rivers

Unknown gunmen have killed two Police officers on duty in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State while one of the fleeing gunmen was gunned down by another Police officer in the attack.

The incident occurred in the late hours of Tuesday, along the Ozuoba – Rumuosi link road in Obio/Akpor LGA, a sprawling suburb of the state capital, where the officers mounted a stop and search road block to curb crimes and criminality in the area.

Our Correspondent gathered that security had been heightened in the neighbourhood following the killing of some youths in the area three months ago.

An eyewitness, who identified herself as Mercy informed the Daily Times that the gunmen ambushed the police officers and opened fire, killing two of them instantly, but a third officer in the Police team fought back, repelled the attack, killing one of the gunmen in the process.

“The policemen were near the Rumuosi market checking vehicle particulars as usual in the evening before the boys came and immediately started shooting at policemen and we all ran for our dear lives, it was later that we heard two officers and one of the gunmen were killed in the shooting.

“It was another officer who was at a distance from the other two that were killed that fought back and also killed one of the bad boys but the other escaped,” She added.

A resident in the community who spoke anonymously told our correspondent that the shooting started at about 10:42pm. He said, “We were all busy carrying on our businesses, around 10:42pm, when we started hearing sounds of heavy gunshots and we all ran for our lives. If you look around you will see people’s abandoned shoes and slippers all over.”

When contacted, Spokesman of the state Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni confirmed the incident but added that the Police was on top of the matter as investigations were ongoing with a view to apprehending the attackers.