The Misau Police Station, Bauchi. Source: Sahara ReportersBy Susan Edeh, Vanguard
BAUCHI – NO fewer than six policemen and one civilian have been reportedly killed by suspected Islamic militants, Monday afternoon in Misau, Bauchi State following simultaneous attacks on a commercial bank and a police station in the area.
Vanguard gathered that the gunmen hurled a bomb at the station leading to explosion and deaths of the five policemen on duty before successfully breaking into the bank and carting away large sum of money.
It could be recalled that Misau local Government which has been attacked for the second time by gunmen in less than two months, is located 160 kilometres north of Bauchi, the state capital.
According to an official of Misau Local Government Council, the gunmen stormed Afribank and the police station in the town at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and started shooting sporadically, resulting in the deaths of the policemen and the civilian and many injured.
The Misau attack would be the sixth attacks on police stations and banks in the state, prompting the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr Hafiz Ringim to order the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, Abuja to carry out full and thorough investigation into the series of attacks.
The witness who pleaded anonymity said that the five policemen were killed at the station while the sixth policeman and the civilian were killed at the bank premises during the attack.
“We started hearing gunshots all of a sudden and then the bomb explosion at the police station. They later set the station ablaze and freed all the detainees. Everybody was confused and running helter-skelter as shooting continues. The gunmen later entered the bank and stole money”, he said
The Misau council official, who witnessed the incident, said many people sustained injuries as a result of the attacks which caused panic in the town.
Reacting, the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ayo Ikechuwkwu Aduba, who confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with newsmen, stated that the command was still trying to get the full details of the attacks and the number of casualties involved.
