Nine feared killed in Calabar cult clash

Renewed fighting between cult members in Calabar, Cross River State, has claimed the lives of nine people including two policemen. Two patrol vans belonging to the Operation Skolombo security outfit were also burnt.

The Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Ozi-Obeh, however, said only two persons and a police inspector were killed, while another, who sustained injury was receiving treatment.

The clash, which started Sunday and continued till yesterday, has forced many business outfits to close shop.

The assailants, armed with machetes, pistols, iron rods and petrol, attacked residents of Eyamba Street in Calabar South in the early hours of yesterday. A prolonged shootout between the cult boys and the police followed the invasion.

In another incident, 10 gunmen yesterday, invaded No 12, Agrofeeds Road and killed two men, Destiny Kalu, and his friend, Aniefiok Udom.

An eyewitness said the killers arrived in a Mercedes Benz 190 and Toyota Camry. “Seven of them broke into our room while the others stayed outside. They went straight for Aniefiok. After beating him up, they shot him dead.”

The police commissioner said about 50 suspected cult members on Tuesday attacked policemen of Atakpa Division.

Represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Tunde Gbolarunmi, he said the cultists “engaged patrol men in serious gun battle along Bogobiri, by Queen Duke junction. And in the process, two cult boys were hit. They died, while one was arrested.”

He added that two locally made pistols, an English pistol, and two empty cartridges were found in their possession.