[UPDATED] Assistant Commissioner Of Police, 2 Other Officers Gunned Down In Benin

The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Benin Area Command and two other officers were shot by suspected cultists of the Aye and Eiye confraternity at the Upper Sokponba area of Benin City.

OduNews earlier reported the fatal shooting of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, however, new development indicates tension in parts of the city as residents, business owners and students scampered for safety and remained indoors for the rest of the day.

Members of the rival cult groups were said to have opened fire on the senior police officers immediately they sighted the vehicles conveying them.

In the last two weeks, the Murtala Muhammed Way (MM Way), has become the epicenter of violence in the state.

Military personnel have been deployed in the flashpoints – Third East Circular, Upper Sakponba, Idogbo, Three House Junction and the adjoining streets, where activities of the cultists can easily spill to other locations in the city.

The cult clash is in addition to the cases of carjacking, robbery and other sundry crimes in the area.

The reason for the cult clashes is still not known, however, there are whispers that some the gangsters were in the city for the funeral rites of one of the major actors of one of the cult groups, which was scheduled for Friday.

The police officers and others who sustained varying degrees of injury were said to have been taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and other nearby hospitals for treatment.