The capital of Nigeria’s oil-rich south south Bayelsa state, Yenagoa, was jolted by drive-by shootings which left about seven people dead in its trail, the private newspaper, Punch, reported here Sunday.
According to the newspaper, an earlier report indicated that several people sustained gunshot wounds in an orgy of killings that started Tuesday before the Friday mayhem that led to the death of some people in different parts of the state capital.
The military Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta has since joined the police to beef up security in the state as the spate of gangster-related killings escalated.
On Saturday, JTF, which has its headquarters in Yenagoa, deployed men in full battle fatigue in strategic locations of the state capital to mount road blocks in “a stop and search operation.”
JTF armoured personnel carriers, with armed soldiers searched all vehicles on the major streets of the state capital, apart from the regular police checkpoints in different parts of the metropolis.
The Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, said the operatives of the task force was assisting the police to ensure safety of lives and properties in the state.
Seven deaths were recorded last week following a similar pattern of gang-related killings and Mafia style hits.
Last Tuesday, gunmen opened fire on the home of an aide to the state governor, Mr. Mike Wenibowei.
Although Wenibowei escaped death by the whiskers, his bodyguard was killed by his gunmen who emerged from a parked car in front of his home.
Three people were killed the following day on the popular Samphino Road in the state capital, while another person was shot on the popular INEC Road the following night.
The semi-high brow Imgbi Road was the centre of a vicious armed attack around 7pm, Friday when it was sent into confusion, at the end of which one person was left dead and another injured Friday.
Already, there were fears in the state but the JTF said there was no cause for alarm as troops have been deployed in the streets.
Antigha stressed “what we are doing is to augment what other security agencies are doing in the state. There have been shootings in the state in the past few days, that is why you see these men checking and searching cars.”
The police were yet to make a statement on the spate of killings in the state in the last one week.