Four shot dead, scores injured in Bayelsa

Four persons have been confirmed dead from Easter Sunday’s attack by suspected cultists on Swali community in Yenagoa, Bayelsa.

Scores of residents of the community were injured in the attack.

A resident, who pleaded anonymity, said on Tuesday that the assailants wore masks.

The resident said the assailants arrived at midnight in a Toyota Hilux van armed with AK-47 rifles and shot indiscriminately at residents in the Easter mood.

A source said that two rival cult groups, the Greenlanders and Bobos, have been engaged in supremacy battle over control of revenue from a market.

The member representing Yenagoa Constituency 1 in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Ayibanegiyefa Egba, condemned the attack.

Egba, who visited the community on Tuesday, said: “This attack is brutal and I condole with the families of those who have lost loved ones.

”I call on all the residents to be united and vigilant in the face of this incident. I equally call on the youths to shun external influences and also shun vices that can truncate their lives.”

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Bayelsa, DSP Musa Mohammed, who confirmed the attack, said security has been beefed up to restore normalcy in the community.

“Normalcy has returned to the community and security measures have been put in place to ensure no further breakdown of law and order or destruction of lives and property,” Mohammed said.