It was a bloody and sad weekend as gunmen unleashed terror on indigenes of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; and Benin City, Edo State, leaving 17 of their victims dead and seven expatriates abducted. Three of the kidnapped foreigners were however rescued from their abductors by the police. In Uyo, gunmen dressed as soldiers, according to AP, kidnapped four Lebanese expatriates working for a construction company, Stemco, in an attack that left four people dead after exchange of fire between the assailants and law enforcement agents, according to the state commissioner of police, Mr. Walter Regbere. The attack happened late Friday and the gun battle left a police officer, a soldier, a civilian and one of the disguised kidnappers dead, Regbere also said. "No group has claimed responsibility for the attack," the commissioner told reporters yesterday. Police took one person into custody after the attack, he said. He assured that the Command would ensure the release of the expatriates while the kidnappers would be arrested. THISDAY gathered that, a police officer was killed when the Joint Military Task Force exchanged fire with the kidnappers while trying to escape with the expatriate workers. Sources also said the incident which occurred in Essien Udim Local Government Area from where the state Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, hails, left one of the kidnappers dead on the spot while another one reportedly gave up the ghost on the way to the hospital. Despite the rate of casualty involved, the gunmen, the sources further said, still succeeded in taking their victims away to an unknown destination. Also in Ado Ekiti, members of the State Police command yesterday rescued three foreign nationals working as building contractors in the state from their abductors who whisked them away from their residence in the government reserved area in the early hours of the day. THISDAY gathered that the three lucky foreigners included a 30-year-old Hani Samua, a Syrian; Samuel Jebran Saidi Ammansi, 38-year-old Syrian and Usdeni Nurudeen, an 18-year-old Lebanese. Sources informed THISDAY that the foreigners, who are road construction engineers, returned home from their construction site when a gang of three men double-crossed them in their vehicle with registration no: Lagos RR 44 APP. Narrating their ordeals to journalists after their rescue, Jebran said: "We were seized at gun point and we offered them money which they rejected." According to him, the incident was their first experience of crime since they came to Ado-Ekiti seven years ago. The supervisor, Mr Joseph Jarrouge, popularly called Kanu, said: "This is a strange experience because we have always enjoyed good relationship with the people of Ekiti since seven years ago that we came to this town." The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kakwe Christopher Katso, said: "when I was briefed by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the New Iyin Division about the development, I gave a directive that the abductors should be pursued and my men swung into action immediately." In another violent development, no fewer than 13 persons were alleged to have been killed in different parts of Benin City, Edo State, and its environs in a renewed bloody cult war believed to be between the Eiye and Black Axe Confraternities. Last March, similar cult war between the black Axe and Maphite confraternity reportedly claimed over 15 lives in Benin City. According to informed sources, the killings which took place in the past two days, have seen men of the Edo State Police Command collecting corpses from the street and depositing same at the mortuary while the wounded were taken to undisclosed hospitals. A source from the state police command confirmed that they had picked eight corpses from different parts of the city while six others were on danger list at different hospitals within the city. It was also gathered that victims of the cult war are usually killed with pump action guns by their assailants who trail them to their homes. Three victims who were killed on Friday morning at Usen quarters, were in their 20s and residents in the area have cried out for protection from the police. Edo State Police Command spokesman, Peter Ogboi, described the incident as unfortunate. He added that the police had swung into action with a view to curbing the situation. Source: Thisdayonline.com