Three police officers and a gunman had been killed and two others wounded in an attack in Edo State.
The gunmen waylaid the officers near Agor, along the Igarra-Auchi Road in Edo State when they were going to their duty post.
One of the attackers was also killed and another injured by gunshots. The police had been taken him to an undisclosed hospital for treatment and interrogation.
The police retrieved six rifles were recovered from the assailants.
The incident, it was gathered, happened between 5:30 and 6am close to the popular Agor Market where mobile policemen usually mount roadblock.
The policemen were reportedly driving in a car while another of their colleague was riding on a motorbike behind when they were attacked.
But the officer riding behind engaged the assailants who fled into the bush with the four rifles of the policemen after killing them.
The leader of the vigilante group in the area, Ibukun Dogo, said they trailed the attackers through blood stains to their hideout and accosted two of them with gunshot injuries.
“One died from the gunshots while the other was taken away by the police to the hospital. We recovered the four police rifles and additional two in the area we found the assailants.
“The suspect said they are from Okene in Kogi State but we don’t know their mission whether it is armed robbery or kidnapping and what they wanted to use the arms and ammunition for.”
When contacted, the Edo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the command was yet to get the details of the attack.