MEND Threat : Militants Kill 12 Policemen In Bayelsa Waterways

In what appears to be resumption of hostilities at the end of a deadline reportedly issued by the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), gunmen suspected to be sympathetic to jailed Henry Okar have killed 12 policemen.

The Bayelsa Police Command has confirmed the deaths of the policemen, along with several others missing, in an attack which occurred during escort duties in Bayelsa waterways on Friday, survived only by two men.  But it denied dismissed speculations that the attack came from MEND, which had earlier threatened to resume its attacks.

The ill-fated boat was heading to Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw LGA for the burial ceremony of the mother of Kile Torughedi.

Torughedi, a former MEND militant leader who embraced the federal government's amnesty, is a Special Assistant to the Bayelsa Governor on Maritime Security.  He reportedly commanded MEND from 2002 to 2009 and was said to have abandoned some of his aggrieved boys, who regrouped to continue hostilities.

Confirming last Friday’s tragedy, Kingsley Omire, the Bayelsa Commisioner of Police, said today that a search party has since been drafted to the site, assuring that efforts were being made by divers to recover the bodies of the victims.

He said that preliminary investigations showed that disgruntled elements within the fold of ex-militants were behind the attack, saying that the policemen were merely 'soft targets' in the attack.

SaharaReporters gathered that the policemen were deployed from the command headquarters in Yenagoa to escort guests to the burial ceremony.

The boat reportedly came under attack mid-sea after it developed a fault.

The gunmen allege that they were betrayed by Torughedi, who accepted a political appointment and reneged on his pledge to carry his boys along.

It is however unclear if the gunmen who carried out the operation were actually members of MEND.

Source : Saharareporters