Five men shot dead during gun battle with police

FIVE armed men were shot dead in Alotau last weekend following a dawn raid by police on a criminals’ mountain hideout.
Provincial police commander Supt Peter Barkie said they had noticed an increase in criminal activities in the past two months.
“We heard there was a group camping in the mountains at the back of the Rossell Compound,” he said.
“We sent word to community leaders to call their sons back home.
“I even went on air on the NBC Milne Bay radio calling on the men to refrain from doing what they were doing and to return to their homes. But they did not listen.”
So last weekend, a police team sent to Milne Bay to help in the general election security operations conducted a dawn raid on the camp.
“They were fired on by the men.
“Police fired back.
“There was a gun battle at 5.30am,” he said.
“When dawn broke, police realised that there were no more shots coming from the men.
“Upon checking, they found five bodies, plus three firearms.”
Criminal investigation division officers who went to the scene called for an ambulance.
But the ambulance officers refused to take the bodies back to the hospital.
“Even the morgue was full.
“So we had to release the bodies to their families for burial,” he said.
Barkie said two of the men were from Rossel Island, two from Rabaraba and one from Normandy.
“Police are trying to establish where they got the firearms from,” he said.