A convoy of vehicles conveying 25 expatriates came under heavy gunfire in an ambush by armed men suspected to be bandits at Ajaokuta, Kogi State on Friday, August 5.
Reports indicated that the incident occurred at about 8.pm when the foreign nationals, all Indian staff of West African Ceramics Company Limited, Ajaokuta, were being transported in a convoy of vehicles including a Coaster bus to their lodge at the close of work.
It was learnt that the gunmen in large numbers opened fire on the convoy escorted by three armed mobile policemen at the front of their lodge few minutes away from the company’s premises.
An Indian, two drivers and a policeman were reportedly shot dead on the spot while the other two police escorts and five expatriates were said to have sustained gunshot injuries and were rushed to Giwa Hospital at Itobe for treatment.
However, another injured policeman later died in the hospital and the corpses were evacuated and deposited at ASCL morgue according to a security source who pleaded anonymity.
Sources said the gunmen carted away rifles of the two slain policemen and abducted two of the expatriates who they whisked away on the escort vehicle in the ambushed convoy.
Identities of the two policemen shot dead by the bandits were given as Inspector Francis Michael and Inspector John Simaila. They duo were attached to Squadron No. 37, Police Mobile Force, PMF, Lokoja, Kogi State.
The police however said the convoy escort vehicle used by the bandits to move the abducted expatriates away from the scene of crime had been recovered as a manhunt for the perpetrators intensifies.
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