Three persons were reportedly killed in a renewed cult war in Benin City on Tuesday.
Daily Trust gathered that the fight, which started on Sunday, was between the Black Axe and Eiye Confraternity groups.
Among the dead were a man identified as Papa Obodo, who was reportedly beheaded by suspected cultists at Sakpoba Road and another person identified as Osaze, said to have been shot around Second East Circular Road, Benin City
It was gathered that trouble started on Sunday afternoon at a popular drinking bar around Sakponba Road in the metropolis after a disagreement broke out between the two cult groups.
The disagreement, Daily Trust learnt, took a dangerous dimension on Sunday night when gunmen suspected to be cultists shot an unidentified man to death in the neigbourhood.
The deceased’s group were said to have been searching for their rival group who they believed carried out the act to take revenge.
A witness said that Osaze managed to escape from the suspected cultists when they stormed his home at Second East Circular Road but the gunmen traced him and killed him.
“They (gunmen) first hit him with machete on the head and later shot him at a closed range,” he said. “The cultists were overheard saying score was settled after killing the victim,’’
Daily Trust, however, gathered that Osaze was mourning his late father who died last month, waiting to be buried.
“ The cultist got hold of Papa Obodo and smashed his head with a stone at about 7:00a.m.,” he said.
Confirming the incident, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, said the killing was as a result of the fight between cult groups in the area.
He said that in June during a clash between the cult groups, a member of one of the group was shot dead.
The commissioner said that some arrests have been made in connection to the killing, calling on parents to always monitor their wards.
