http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art2010080112271723

At least seven people have been feared killed in drive-by shootings that have jolted Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, SUNDAY PUNCH has gathered.


Earlier report indicated that several people had sustained gunshot wounds in an orgy of killings that started last Tuesday before the Friday mayhem that led to the death of some people in different parts of the state capital.


To forestall the development, the military Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta joined the police to beef up security in the state as the spate of gangster-related killings escalated.


By early Saturday morning, the JTF had deployed men in full battle fatigue in strategic locations of the state capital to mount road blocks in ”a stop and search operation.”


JTF armoured personnel carriers with armed soldiers searched all vehicles on the major streets of the state capital, apart from the regular police checkpoints in different parts of the metropolis.


The Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, said the JTF was assisting the police to ensure safety of lives and properties in the state.


The headquarters of the JTF is located in Yenagoa.


Last week, there had been records of seven deaths that followed a similar pattern of gang-related killings and Mafia style hits.


Last Tuesday evening, gunmen opened fire on the home of an aide to the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Mike Wenibowei.


Although Wenibowei escaped death by the whiskers, his bodyguard was killed by gunmen who emerged from a parked car in front of his home.


Three people were killed the following day on the popular Samphino Road in the state capital, while another person was shot on the popular INEC Road the following night.


The semi-high brow Imgbi Road was the centre of a vicious armed attack that left one person dead and another injured on Friday night.


The sporadic shooting, which occurred around 7pm, sent the Imgbi Road area into confusion.


Already, there were fears in the state, but the JTF said there was no cause for alarm over the deployment of troops in the streets.


Antigha assured members of the public that they were safe.


”What we are doing is to augment what other security agencies are doing in the state. There have been shootings in the state in the past few days, that is why you see these men checking and searching cars,” he said.


The police were yet to make a statement on the spate of killings in the state in the last one week.