Six persons were killed, on Tuesday, after soldiers invited to stop the lynching of a suspected ritualist opened fire on villagers of Idjerhe (Jesse) Kingdom in Ethiope-West Local Government Area of Delta State, sources said on Tuesday.

Twenty-five others were left critically injured, sources said.

Information gathered suggested that the security men had tried to prevent the villagers from killing a man suspected to be ritualist. The villagers had, however, attempted to prevent the soldiers from taking the said ritualist to the village monarch for interrogation, pelting the soldiers with stones and other items. The men in uniform then opened fire.

“Three persons were killed at first, but the death toll increased later, as the youths continued their attack on soldiers,” one said.

Another said: “They tried to stop the soldiers who came lawfully take away the suspect and that made the soldiers to shoot indiscriminately, gunning down about three persons in the first instance, another person later died.”

In a reprisal attack, irate villagers razed the palace of Ovie of Idjerhe, His Royal Majesty, Erhikevwe I, who, they suspected, invited the soldiers.

Soldiers, however, whisked the embattled monarch away from the palace to save his life.

Spokesperson of the Police in Delta State, Charles Muka, confirmed the incident, saying that three persons were shot dead, one hospitalised and 12 others arrested in connection with the incident.

He said the police were not involved in the shooting.

Meanwhile, the Delta State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, passed a resolution urging the governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to direct the Commissioner of Police and other security agencies in the state to move into Jesse and restore order to the troubled community.

The motion, which was moved under matters of urgent public importance by the member, representing Ethiope West Local Government Area, John Nani, was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers.