By Caleb Tamunosaki
Suspected pirates have killed five fishermen and inflicted gunshot injuries on several others around the Brass Island, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
A security source who confided in our correspondent said that the heavily armed criminals carried out the attacks in five speed boats on Monday.
The source said that the pirates had two 200 horsepower outboard engines mounted each of the five boats as they carried out the grisly attacks in a commando fashion.
The source stated further that the pirates removed the engines from the boats of the fishermen and destroyed the trawlers whose engines they could not remove.
The source said, “Some men suspected to be pirates attacked large number of fishermen on the water way in Brass. The fishermen have trawlers and they usually leave early for their fishing outings.
“These men came in with five speed boat each of which was mounted with two 200 horse power engines .They removed the engines of the boats belonging to the fishermen and burnt the boats whose engines they could not remove.
The source said that there is a high likelihood that there might be more casualties in the attack.
The spokesman for the police in the state, SP Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident on Tuesday but said only one fisherman was killed.
He said the identities of the deceased fisherman and other victims had not been ascertained.
Butswat said, “Yes, one person (fisherman) was killed and others sustained injuries. Their identities are not yet confirmed.”
One Nuru Oriade, one of the survivors of the attack, was reported to have said that the assailants operated in six speed boats.
He said the criminals shot at them, set ablaze some of the corpses with the boats and escaped with the engine boats.
He said, “We were fishing, dropping our nets this morning when suddenly we saw about five to six speed boats drew close to us and opened fire.”
Our correspondent also contacted the Chairman of Brass Local Government Area, Mr Victor Isaiah, who confirmed the attack but was silent on the casualty figure.
