militiamen, dressed in black shirts and caps, kept approaching amidst heavy gunfire as bullets were not penetrating them.
**police officers were gathered in heaps and set ablaze by the militiamen.
Ten
policemen who survived Tuesday’s onslaught from the Ombatse militia
group in Nasarawa State have attributed their survival to luck.
Narrating
their escape, one of the police officers who spoke on behalf of nine
other survivors (names withheld) said their survival was only by the
grace of God as they were outnumbered and overpowered by the militiamen.
He also disclosed that the militiamen had prior knowledge of their
coming and laid siege on the narrow road leading to the village, Alakyo,
where they were supposed to effect the arrest of their leader and
recover arms said to be in his possession.
He said, “The road is
narrow and they allowed us into their midst before opening fire on us at
close range.” Efforts to return fire and scare them into hiding ware
futile as bullets were not penetrating them, he said.
The militiamen,
dressed in black shirts and caps, kept approaching amidst heavy
gunfire, which forced their Hilux van, the last van on the convoy, to
turn back. “Due to the nature of the road and ensuing gun duel, our men
could not turn back and 10 of us in our van were able to manoeuvre our
way out but not without suffering bullet wounds,” he said.
The
recuperating officer added that the driver of their van was shot on the
leg but, luckily enough, one of them with him in front could drive and
immediately took over. Many of the officers took to the bush but hugely
outnumbered by the militiamen who knew the terrain better, they were
pursued and killed.
“As soon as they killed an officer, his rifle was taken off him.”
Meanwhile,
the pervading atmosphere in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, is that
of fear, anxiety and hope as the families of the slain policemen
converged on the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) to identify
their loved ones most of whom had been burnt beyond recognition.
The
Nasarawa State commissioner of police, Mr Abayomi Akeremale, has
confirmed that the bodies of 30 policemen killed on Tuesday by a militia
group at Alakyo village in Lafia had been recovered.