Police: 17 persons — including eight officers — were killed in Offa robbery

Seventeen persons were killed in a robbery attack in Offa, Kwara state, the police have said.

Armed robbers on Thursday raided some commercial banks in the town, carting away an undisclosed amount.

They were said to have also attacked a police station in the area.

Jeffrey Ajayi, spokesman of the state police command, on Saturday said apart from those who lost their lives, “some persons” were also injured.

He said eight of those killed were police officers who were shot dead at the police station.

Ajayi told TheCable that “17 persons lost their lives in the attack, comprising of eight policemen and civilians. There are seven suspects arrested for now, and investigation is still ongoing”.

He said the police have recovered seven vehicles “abandoned” by the bandits after the attack.

“We also recovered some cartons of ammunitions(sic) they used during the attack,” Ajayi said.

He said while the police are still on the trail of other suspects, the inspector-general of police intelligence response team is in the state to help with the ongoing investigation.

Abdulfatah Ahmed, governor of Kwara state, has offered N5 million for information that could facilitate the arrest of the robbers.