[All Africa] The military operation was launched after some button men killed three coppers in the area.Many people have been reportedly killed during a military operation on Tuesday in a community in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria's South-south.
The Nigerian military carried out aerial bombardment in the community - Ntak Ikot Akpan - which it said was targeted at miscreants who attacked and killed some coppers in the local government area recently.
The police, last week, confirmed that three of their officers were killed, while four were missing in the area.
The Nigerian Army said on Wednesday that those killed during the military operation were 'hoodlums.' It did not, however, mention the number of people killed in the operation.
"The operation was successfully executed and resulted in the dislodgment of the criminals while fleeing hoodlums were neutralised by the Air Component," the army spokesperson, Mohammed Yerima, a brigadier general, said in a statement.
Mr Yerima said normality has been restored in the area, and that people could now go about their businesses.
The identity of those behind the attack on the security agents and why they did it remained unknown as of the time of this report.
A police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Odiko MacDon, did not mention those responsible for the attack in a statement he issued on the incident.
The cause of the attack, he said, was unknown.
"Whereas the remote and immediate causes of these unprovoked attacks are unknown, a discreet investigation is on the way to unravel the same and seek a lasting solution," he said.
The army statement also did not mention who was behind the attack on the police, apart from saying that some miscreants were trying to perpetuate crimes in the area.
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