No fewer than six people were feared killed when armed men suspected to be members of rival cult groups allegedly attacked some areas in Awka, the Anambra State capital, on Sunday.
It was gathered that the attacks took place in Okpuno area, around Eke Awka and Obinagu. A similar incident was also said to have happened at Opposite Dike Park, around Eke Awka Market, all in Awka, the state capital.
Although the actual casualty figure could not be immediately obtained, sources in the areas said the victims were on their way for a picnic and other social functions when the rampaging armed men stormed the area in their numbers and started shooting.
The reason for the shooting has yet to be officially ascertained, but sources in the area said the rampaging armed men might have engaged one another in a supremacy battle.
One of the sources, a resident in one of the areas said, “The victims were on their way to different functions when they were killed by the bullets from the armed men who stormed the area at about noon on Sunday.
“The incident also escalated to other areas, where some more persons were also gunned down by the armed men suspected to be cultists.”
It was gathered that one of the persons hit by bullets was a staff of the Anambra State Judiciary simply identified as Nwofor, who was said to be on his way to a function before the armed men struck.
This was corroborated by a video currently trending on social media, showing bodies of persons gunned down in the Eke Awka environs.
While one of the victims was seen still struggling in pain in the pool of his blood beside his motorcycle where he fell, passersby were seen scampering to safety.
The police had recently arrested some cult members in the wake of cult-related killings in Awka, but the activities persist.
However, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ikenga Tochukwu, when contacted, could not confirm the incident as he said there was no such report before him.
[Punch]
