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Soldiers of the 14 Brigade, Ohafia, stationed at Aba, have killed a gunman suspected to be a sit-at-home enforcer at the Osisioma Ngwa area, in Aba, Abia State, along the Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway.
Vanguard gathered that the gunmen had warned traders and motorists against doing business to observe the sit-at-home order. They destroyed goods belonging to the traders who displayed their wares along the expressway.
The gunmen who wore hoods and operated in two ash-coloured Sienna and Hummer buses, had attacked an eatery and smashed the glass window panes as customers scampered to safety.
The gunmen also accosted an 18-seater bus heading to Port Harcourt in the Ugwunagbo area and ordered the passengers to alight and set it ablaze.
They also snatched a Lexus jeep belonging to a Medical Doctor, along the expressway.
Eyewitnesses told Vanguard that the gunmen set the jeep ablaze as it stopped a few metres after they snatched it from the owner. A vehicle with a government number plate was also set ablaze.
Following the sporadic shootings, soldiers of the 14 Brigade cordoned off access to the Osisioma Ngwa to the expressway, Tonimas junction, Bata, Ariaria junctions, as well as the Umuode-Umuojima areas, which created tension in the city, forcing business owners to close their shops.
However, a security source from the 14 Brigade, Ohafia, told Vanguard that the military later chased after the gunmen into the Umuojima area, engaged them in a gun battle, killing one of them and inflicting bullet injury on others.
The body of the deceased gunman was said to have been recovered by the soldiers. It was also gathered that a security personnel was shot and is receiving treatment in an undisclosed private hospital
A Toyota Sienna bus and another vehicle used by the gunmen during the operation were said to have been recovered with blood stains.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Public Relations Officer, 14 Brigade, Lt. Innocent Omale were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
