By Cajetan. Mmuta
Tension mounted among residents of Awka the Anambra state capital on Monday as members of the dreaded Bakassi Boys killed six suspected cultists and armed robbers and set their bodies ablaze in the process.

The group had stormed the town on Saturday and embarked on a manhunt of hoodlums whose activities have kept residents on sleepless nights.

Members of the outfit adorned in black clothes and caps were seen at about 9:45 am with guns and cutlasses as they rode on tricycles and shuttle buses around the Ezi- Awka community even as residents gathered in groups in the expression of shock as to what was amiss within their vicinity.

It would be recalled that the spate of bloody rival secret cult members and other criminals have worsened the state insecurity in parts of the capital town.

Operatives of the state police command appear helpless in the rage by gun-totting hoodlums and cult groups.

About 35 persons have so far died in the past two months following endless and mindless killings by rival secret cult groups within Amawbia, Eke Awka, Ukwu Orji, Nnamdi Azikiwe University junction, and other locations in the town.

The membership of the gun-wielding bloody rival cult groups said to have Ben drawn from tricycle operators, primary, secondary, and University students, artisans, and traders alike.

However, residents of Ezi-Awka have been jittery since the arrival of the said Bakassi Boys and the consequence of their action.

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The awe-stricken people had gathered at the scene of the killing and burning of the suspects to behold the ugly scenario.

The dreaded Bakassi Boys were said to have been invited to the capital town by some stakeholders to rid the town of miscreants whose activities have crumbled the socio-economic potentials of the state.

Police Public Relations Officer of the State command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga when contacted on the incident said the command was yet to be briefed on the latest development.

He also promised that the command would carry out an investigation with a view to getting to the root of the matter.