BY ALBERT KPOR & IFEANYI OKOLIE

LAGOS – Two police men attached to Akinpelu Police Station in Oshodi area of Lagos State, were yesterday, gunned down after a suspected gang of fleeing armed robbers who were said to be escaping from a robbery scene attacked them.

The deceased police men whose identifies were yet to be ascertained at the time of filing this report were said to be at a checkpoint by the Oshodi_Isolo local government secretariat when the bandits struck.

Eyewitness told Vanguard that the fleeing bandits, drove into Bolade area of Oshodi through the Agege Motor Road and were shooting sporadically into the air to scare intruders when two of the policemen were caught by the stray bullets.

But another account said the robbers on sighting the  policemen in uniforms thought they were waiting for them, came out of their get-away vehicle and opened fire on the unsuspecting policemen, before snatching  another car with which they fled the area.

But  sources said, though the policemen were taken unaware, some of them who were armed were said to have responded accordingly while those who were not armed took to their heels.

Reports further said  residents of the area also took to their heels in different directions to avoid being caught in the cross fire.

But the armed  robbers who were said to have later driven through Arowojobe Street had made good their escape before a  reinforced detachment from the Command Headquarters Ikeja could arrive the scene.

Frantic efforts to get the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Samuel Jinadu to comment on the attack failed as his GSM phone rang endlessly unanswered.

The commissioner of Police Mr. Yakubu Alkali did not also pick his calls.  But a source close to the police spokesman’s office told Vanguard that the bodies of the deceased policemen have been deposited at the public mortuary for autopsy while a manhunt has already been launched for the fleeing robbers.