10 killed in botched bank heists in Nigeria
Armed robbers killed at least 10 people, including a policeman, when they raided a police station and two banks in southern Nigeria, police said yesterday.
The incident, which took place on Thursday in Igarra in Edo state, was the latest in a string of such robberies in which the assailants have first attacked a police station to seize weapons before going on to raid a bank.
"Ten people were killed in total. The gunmen first attacked a police station where they killed three people, including two detainees and a policeman," a senior police officer told AFP.
Three people near the police station also died after being hit by stray bullets, he said, adding that a police vehicle at the scene had been torched.
"The robbers attacked two banks but could not break into the vaults," he said.
He said four people, including customers, were shot dead at the two banks.
Edo state police spokesman Chidi Nwabuzor confirmed the incident but declined to give details.
Community leader Folorunsho Dania also said 10 people had been killed.
"This is a serious case," he told local media.
“Ten bodies have been counted. The police station was set ablaze; the area commander's car was torched," he said. "It is a calamity."
In April, 33 people, including a number of policemen, were killed during a brutal bank robbery in central Nigeria.
The gang struck in broad daylight in a busy commercial district in Offa, Kwara state, firing indiscriminately as they made off with the loot.
Police have arrested 22 suspects over the incident.
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