Four persons were feared dead and scores of others injured on Monday in cult related clashes in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Sporadic shooting was reported in several parts of the Garden City. The affected areas include Aggrey Road, Marine Base, Borokiri and Lagos area.
Also, there was pandemonium when scores of militants opened fire on residents of the popular Emenike Junction in the Diobu area of the city at about 4.30pm. Police, however, responded by drafting an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) with scores of mobile policemen to the area.
No one was able to establish the cause of the attack, which came barely hours after leader of the Niger Delta People�s Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo, addressed newsmen condemning the spate of senseless attacks and kidnapping. The militants numbering over 12 just came in an unmarked Mercedes Benz car and motorbikes.
Dressed in black attires, with some in red and boxer pants, they shot sporadically in all direction while doing zig-zag movements with their vehicle.
There was pandemonium as traders, drivers, pedestrians ran helter-skelter for their lives. Unconfirmed report said that four persons were felled while scores of other were wounded. Some residents said the death toll could be more.
Twenty minutes after the continued firing, mobile policemen in the nearby Mile 1 Police Division were drafted to challenge the cultists. The policemen were later reinforced by an APC which forced the militants to move to the Okija section of the junction from where they engaged the law enforcers in a shoot-out.
The exchange of fire which lasted for about 40 minutes ended when the militants left on their own.
Contacted, the Rivers State Police image maker said a statement on the incident would be issued in due course.