Three gunmen have been killed by the combined efforts of the Nigeria Police and local hunters in a gun battle at a checkpoint in Osun State.

The Nation gathered that the incident occurred at Osunjela in Atakunmonsa West Local Government Area of Osun State around 3:48 p.m. yesterday.

It was learnt that the gunmen, numbering about five, were armed with pump action assault rifles and Dane guns; ran into the checkpoint and wanted to escape.

A security source told our correspondent that the combined efforts of the Special Squad of the Commissioner of Police codenamed Prompt Response Unit (PRU) and the hunters under the aegis of the Hunters Group of Nigeria engaged the gunmen.

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“The police ordered them to surrender their weapons but they refused and started to attack the operatives. In the process, three of them were killed while others escaped. We recovered pump action guns and other ammunition from the gunmen.”

The spokesperson of the Osun State Police Command, SP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident to our correspondent, saying: “Three of the gunmen were killed but I will get back to you on the circumstances surrounding the attack.”

The spokesperson of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC, Osun State Command, Daniel Adigun confirmed that the incident occurred around 3:45 p.m.