Police confirm five deaths in Rivers cult clash

The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the death of five persons who were shot during a cult clash in the Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state.

The incident took place inside an estate close to Immigration Training School in Umuigwe community in Ehuda kingdom.

The command’s Public Relations officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, in a statement on Sunday identified two of the deceased as Chukwujeku Kingsley and Chibuike Thankgod.

SP Iringe-Koko explained that the “corpses of 2 of the victims” had been removed by the family for burial before the police arrived at the scene of the clash.

The bodies of the remaining have been “deposited at the mortuary”.

The statement said preliminary investigation revealed that the killing was as a result of a clash which erupted among the cultists recently.

She however assured that the Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong-Okon, has ordered the “deployment of a tactical team” to the community.

Meanwhile, a source in the community said about 12 persons have been reported dead since the supremacy battles started between the two cult groups in the