No fewer than 13 persons were feared dead in Wednesday’s bloody clash between the Joint Task Force (JTF) troops and armed youths loyal to kidnap and robbery kingpin Kelvin Prosper Oniarah (aka Ibruvwe) in Kokori, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.
Troops
deployed in Kokori to secure the town shortly after his arrest on
Wednesday came under intense gunfire, leading to a shootout that lasted
for over three hours before the youths were overpowered.
Oniarah’s
close associate identified as Charles and a juju priest, Michael
Omonigho, who is believed to be the gang’s spiritual head, were
arrested.
Governor Emmanuel
Uduaghan, who addressed reporters yesterday in Warri, confirmed the
arrest, saying one person died in the clash.
It was learnt that the governor relied on information provided by security operatives and a body retrieved from the scene.
However,
investigation revealed that the death toll was higher than one. The
body recovered from Kokori on Wednesday night has been taken to Effurun
Barracks headquarters of the Sector 1 Command of the JTF.
A reliable security source involved in the operation, told reporters,
“The armed youths killed were at least 13; some of the bodies were
dragged from the scene and taken to an unknown location by their
colleagues.” Adding that at least 25 youths of the town escaped with gunshot wounds.
It
was gathered that two of the troops’ Hilux vans used for Wednesday’s
operation were damaged by the hoodlums, who attempted to set them on
fire by shooting the fuel tanks repeatedly.
“Luckily
for us, the tank was made of plastic. They were able to destroy the
tyres and we had to move the vehicle out of the town with flat tyres
before fixing it,” a JTF source, who was part of the team, said.
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