One week after robbers raided four banks in Iwo and killed one policeman, some hoodlums on Wednesday attacked two new generation banks in Ilesa, Osun.
The hoodlums attacked the banks at 10 a.m. and allegedly killed two people, sources told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The operation caused panic and anxiety among the people, who had to remain indoors, while the operation lasted, witnesses said.
At Ita-Balogun, where the banks are located, sporadic shooting forced neighbours to scamper for safety, they said.
A man, who witnessed the incident, said that the police in Ilesa engaged the bandits in a gunfight, unlike the situation in Iwo, where the criminals operated unperturbed.
“The incident was so dramatic as the armed robbers came suddenly in a convoy of different brands of vehicles and immediately took positions to begin the operation.
“Although myself and other people in the vicinity stood at a safe distance to watch the scene unfold, I did not know how the police later came to engage them.
“We later learnt that two persons, including a bread vendor in the area, died of stray bullet (wounds) and scores of people were injured,” the witness said
He added that if the police had not exhausted their bullets so soon and left the scene, the story would have been different.
The witness said it was shortly after the bandits sped off that some good Nigerians, together with the police, took the victims to nearby hospitals for medical attention.
Mr Olugbemileke Taiwo, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, confirmed the incident and said the police had begun investigations into the matter.
Taiwo