Four feared dead in Warri cult clash

Ilori Ogunmola

DELTA – A lady and three young men are feared dead in a suspected cult reprisal attack in Warri, Delta State.

The identity of the of the four victims could not be established as at press time.

Tension has engulfed the popular Iyara, a suburb in Warri South Local Government Area, where the killing took place earlier today, Wednesday 2nd October.

Top security sources said about a score of person sustained injuries during exchange of gun shots by the clashing cult groups and have been taken to an undisclosed hospital.

Sources said the gang were using AK-47 riffles during the attack.

Persons who were unwinding in bars in the salacious environment were said to have fled for dear lives.

Businesses have been shutdown abruptly in the area.

The yet-to-be-identified lady caught in the attack was said to have visited one of the bars to unwind with her boyfriend when pellets from AK47 guns hit her.

It could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report if an earlier attack from a rival cult group had taken place in the area.

A youth leader in Iyara community who claimed to have witnessed the incident said police operatives drafted from A Division under the Warri Area Command to the scene of the clash could not move into the trouble spot for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

Indigenes of the community have blamed the police for recurring cases of violent clashes by cult groups in Warri, saying that the police were fond of releasing suspected cultists shortly after the are arrested, hence giving them the impetus to return and unleash terror on people.

A youth leader in Iyara said the community will mobilise to meet with the Commissioner of Police, Mr Yinka Adeleke to return Chief Superintendent of Police, Anietie Eyo, popularly called “Calabar” to Warri.

Eyo is renowned in Warri for courage and valour in taking the battle to criminals in their hideouts.

”People are running up and down for fear of being killed. Help us inform the CP to send Eyo back to Warri to save us from these boys whom other policemen are afraid to confront or we will storm the state police command soon because we had some level of quiet when Eyo was the DPO here”, the youth leader who did not want his name on print said.

He also told our reporter that preparation for Islamic burial rites for one of the three boys shot dead in the incident ongoing as at the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, CP Adeleke and the PPRO, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, did not pick their calls on Wednesday night.