Gunmen kill DPO, pregnant cop, five others in Bayelsa, Rivers

Monday was a sad day for the Nigeria Police Force as it lost six of its personnel to unknown gunmen in Bayelsa and Rivers states, while a station was set ablaze in Imo State.

In the most deadly of the attacks, some gunmen invaded a police station in Agudama, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, and killed the Divisional Police Officer, SP Ola Rosanla; a pregnant policewoman, identified as Joy Wellington; and two other yet-to-be-identified cops on duty.

The gunmen reportedly made away with rifles, ammunition and the police uniforms they found at the station in the operation that lasted close to one hour.

It was gathered that gunmen invaded the station, which has a perimeter fence, through the bank of the river in the community and caught the policemen on duty unawares.

They were said to have led the DPO to the armoury at gunpoint and took all the guns and ammunition there, after which the bandits reportedly forced him to kneel down and shot him dead.

Thereafter, the bandits were said to have moved from room to room in search of policemen believed to be hiding. It was in one of the rooms that they killed the pregnant policewoman.

It was also learnt that two other policemen on patrol in the community heard the gunshots and rushed down to the station and engaged the bandits in a shootout, but they were overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the hoodlums.

Though the cops were said to have inflicted bullet injuries on the attackers, they also suffered gunshot wounds and were in critical conditions at hospital.

A source in the community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no civilian was killed in the attack as there were no detainees in the station at the time of the attack.

It was gathered that the attack was carried out around 2.15am.

"At dawn, we heard that one policeman escaped, while another, who was shot in the leg, survived the attack,” the source said.

The source added that all the rifles in the armoury of the police station and uniforms belonging to deceased officers were taken away by the gunmen.

However, the corpses of the DPO and the other cops had been deposited in the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, by their colleagues.