The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the killing of four fleeing gunmen and a female nurse in Okpulor, Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state.
It was gathered that the gunmen were among those who reportedly murdered seven policemen in an attack on security formations along the Rumuji area of the East-West Road and Elimgbu Police Station in Obio/Akpor LGA recently.
The police had said their operatives killed two of the attackers while others fled with gunshot injuries.
A source alleged that the nurse simply identified as Uchechi was treating the gunmen in an uncompleted building when a police team surrounded the place and opened fire on them.
He said one of the gunmen attempted to escape through a fence but was shot dead, noting that the squad moved into the building and killed three others.
The source said, “During that attack, the police engaged them in a gun battle. They sustained injuries and even abandoned their Hilux van. Those who were wounded ran to their hideout at Iriebe, near Oyigbo and hired one Uchechi, a nurse, to treat them.
“The police tracked them to the hideout. They made efforts to shoot but the policemen outgunned them and in the process the lady was hit by a bullet and she died. They are IPOB members. Five registration booklets of IPOB, many charms and some arms were recovered from them.”
When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Eboka Friday, confirmed the killing of the four gunmen and the nurse, but said those that carried out the raid were not policemen.
Friday said, “That report was made at the police station at Oyigbo that some people came in two Hilux vans. The vehicles were unmarked and they went to the building and identified the makeshift clinic. I don’t know what happened but they said they heard gunshots.
“But from all indications they are not policemen. If they are policemen, what they normally do is to report to the nearest police station whenever they are going for any operation like that.
“But the Divisional Police Officer said they didn’t report to him. We heard it and I sent a signal that unknown gunmen stormed there. We don’t know who killed but we are aware that a woman who was treating those people with bullet injuries was killed. The four people she was treating were all killed.”