| Two riot policemen attached to the Rivers State Police Command and five gunmen were killed on Friday morning in Port Harcourt in a failed attempt by suspected militants to abduct two expatriates.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr Felix Ogbaudu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Port Harcourt that though details of the incident were sketchy, the policemen were killed along Reclamation Road, while on escort duty. He said that they were escorting some expatriate workers to their offices when some people in camouflage opened fire and killed them on the spot. He said that a back-up team eventually recovered the rifles of the policemen, while the expatriates were neither harmed nor kidnapped. Industry sources told Agence France Presse that the two expatriates, whose names or nationalities were not released, work for Macoba Nigeria International and made their escape in a mini-bus. They said five of the gunmen also died in the shoot-out. Ogbaudu told AFP, �The gunmen attacked a security convoy accompanying the expatriates to the office. They could not take the men away. But I lost two of my officers in the incident.� He said the state command had launched a manhunt for the killers and was also awaiting details of the incident from the company. The command has lost 10 policemen to militants and armed robbers in the last two weeks. |
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Apr282007