By Festus Ahon

ASABA—IDUMUJE-Ugboko community, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State was on Christmas day thrown into confusion and mourning following the suspected killings of a grandmother and four of her grand-children by yet unknown assailants who set them ablaze.

Vanguard gathered that the grandmother , who was identified as Comfort Ubani and the four children whose names were unknown at press time, were killed by the suspected assassins before setting them ablaze

A dependable community source, who pleaded anonymity, said, the eldest of the children, who was in her teens , was allegedly violated as there were blood stains in her underwear and her thighs even after the fire incident.

Disclosing that everything in the apartment where the mystery fire supposedly occurred were intact except an old cushion chair and a plastic chair that got burnt in the living room, the source alleged that the incident was carefully masterminded by the suspected assailants.

The source said; “Another factor that raised suspicion is the reported shock findings that the victims had pieces of clothes stuffed in their mouths, apparently as a muffler against the possibility of them raising alarm.

“This shows that the victims were killed by unknown persons, who gathered them into the parlour and set them ablaze. The parlour did not burn much but few household items like chairs and others that were burnt without much effect on the building.

“We cannot tell the cause of fire, but we saw pieces of clothes forced apparently into their mouths and wondered what could have caused that”.

The source who spoke further, said “the grandmother and three of the children burnt right inside the parlour, while the fourth child, who was wearing a school uniform, was found dead somewhere else in the compound”.

The source also said the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim, has visited the scene of incident with an assurance to unravel the mystery behind the deaths, adding that corpses of the victims have been deposited in the mortuary.