Residents scramble as soldiers, police clash in Osun

Pandemonium broke out on Saturday evening in Osogbo, Osun State capital, when armed soldiers and officers of the state police command engaged themselves in a gun duel that lasted about an hour.

As gunshots rented the air in front of the Dugbe Divisional Police Station located around Old Garage area of the town, the warring military and police officers shot sporadically in a free for all battle.

As of the time of filing this report, the cause of the fracas still remained unknown. 

But a source disclosed that trouble started when one of the police operatives reportedly clashed with a soldier at Ajegunle spare parts market, a commercial trading centre beside Dugbe police station.

According to the sources, the clash between them snowballed into a fiasco when the soldiers reportedly descended on the policeman and beat him silly along with another police officer who tried to intervene.

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This attracted the attention of other police officers who have their offices around the scene of the incident, who mobilised themselves to set their colleagues free, but this led to a bigger fight among them.

An eyewitness who identified himself as Adetoye Adeleye told our reporter that some escapees among the members of the public even scaled fences to save their lives during the fracas.

As of the time of filing this report, no fatalities were recorded, but some officers were said to be injured.

In her comment, the state police command public relations officer, Mrs Yemisi Opalola, confirmed the incident, but said, a police officer was slightly injured and that the matter had been resolved amicably.

She, however, charged members of the public to go on with their normal businesses undisturbed.