Gunmen on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning respectively attacked Obowo divisional Police Headquarters and killed a policeman.
Our correspondent gathered while the fleeing gunmen killed an officer in his house at NEPA junction in Umulogho community on Tuesday night, they returned on Wednesday morning and razed the divisional headquarters situated in Otoko community.
Locals who spoke to our correspondent in strict confidence, disclosed that on arrival on Tuesday night, the attackers sought for a particular police officer living in one of the apartments in the building.
On identifying him, he was brought out together with his properties and killed.
They were said to had razed his properties after killing him and zoomed off.
One of the sources who is a native of the area said, “the Tuesday Night’s attack was characterised with heavy gunshots for about 30 minutes and happened concurrently with the Isiala Mbano council headquarters attack.
“So far a Police operative was brought out of his house alongside his properties and killed at NEPA Junction axis of Umuadara, Umulogho Obowo, while a male student of College of Nursing Sciences Umulogho was hit in the chest (rib) axis by stray bullet.
“Other victims are yet to be identified.
“Shockingly, we woke up to rocking sounds from explosives and gunshots from Otoko Axis, and later discovered that Otoko Police Station was set ablaze.”
Another source revealed that the first attack happened between 8pm and 9pm while the second attack occured around 3am.
He said ” the house has some Policemen and student nurses as the tenants. On arrival, the gunmen insisted to see a particular policeman who lives their. On identifying him, they killed him and destroyed his properties before driving off. A stray bullet also hit one of the student nurses and he was rushed to a hospital. The student nurse is not dead. He is alive. This one happened on Tuesday night. After they left some Policemen and soldiers came and evacuated the corpse of the policeman.
“Then around 3am on Wednesday, the gunmen returned. This time they attacked Otoko Police divisional headquarters. They shot for close to 30 minutes. Nobody knows the number of causalities in the second attack as fear hasn’t allowed anybody to near the razed police facility.
Police spokesperson in the state, Henry Okoye told our correspondent that the Commissioner of Police, CP Danjuma Aboki has deployed the command’s tactical team to hunt the perpetrators of this ugly act.
These attacks followed the Tuesday night attack on the Isiala Mbano LGA council headquarters situated in the same Okigwe zone of the state.
The Isiala Mbano LGA attack left the council headquarters burnt and some security operatives guarding the facility dead.
Background
The reason for the attacks is currently unknown, but it coincides with a declaration by secessionist leader Simon Ekpa, who called for a month-long hostility against government establishments in the South-East, starting from August 28, 2024.
More to follow….
