A Joint Task Force patrol team comprising military and police personnel was attacked in Akwa Ibom State by a gang of armed men at about 8.32pm on Monday, leaving one naval personnel and two Inspectors of police dead.
Reports said an unidentified Army officer sustained severe injuries in the attack, and was rushed for treatment at the General Hospital, Ikot-Ekpene, where corpses of the deceased were deposited.
Scudnews learnt that the gunmen launched the offensive on six motorcycles while the security personnel were at a pin down point at Ikot Umoh Essien Junction in
Essien Udim Local Government Area of the state, and shot dead their victims, two of whom were identified as Police Inspectors Solomon Ikenria and Matthew Okut.
The names of the slain naval personnel and the injured Army officer could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, however, sources said one of the attackers was also shot dead by the Joint Task Force patrol team
The police said efforts were ongoing to track down the fleeing gunmen.
Meanwhile, hoodlums on Thursday reportedly broke into the Ikot Ekpene branch of Union Bank Plc in Akwa Ibom State and looted cash in the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) after destroying it.
Udeme Okure, Operations Manager of the bank at Ikot Ekpene was said to have reported the incident to the police in the early hours of Thursday, March 18.
Sources said workers at bank resumed in the morning and found the civilian night guard, Gabriel Okon Akpan, tied and dumped unconscious in a toilet by yet-to-be-identified persons who allegedly broke into the bank premises.
Following a report, the police said a team of operatives who were drafted to the scene, rushed the guard to a hospital where he was certified dead and his body deposited at Amatex Mortuary, a private facility at Ikot Ekpene, for autopsy.
