Gunmen ‘kill’ two police officers, burn patrol vehicle in Enugu

At least two police officers may have been killed on Wednesday evening in Enugu State, Nigeria’s South-east, when gunmen opened fire at two security checkpoints, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

NAN reported that the police spokesperson in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, confirmed the shooting in a statement on Thursday. He did not, however, disclose details of the incident.

One civilian is also feared to have also been killed, while a motorcycle and a police patrol vehicle were set ablaze.

“Preliminary investigations have commenced. Further development will be communicated, please,” Mr Ndukwe, an assistant superintendent of police, said in the statement, Thursday.

A NAN correspondent, who visited the scenes of the attacks within Obeagu-Amechi in Enugu South Local Government Area and Amagunze in Nkanu East Local Government Area on Thursday morning, saw the burnt vehicle and motorcycle.

The remains of the two police officers and a civilian killed by the yet-to-be identified gunmen had been evacuated.

The road that leads to the scene of the incident was cordoned off by the police, and the traffic diverted to another road.

A witness, Obinna Nweke, told NAN that the shooting started at about 5:30 p.m. and lasted more than an hour.

Mr Okeke, a commercial tricycle rider, said the checkpoint was manned by about 12 armed police officers when he rode past the place about three times before the incident.

“What happened was like a war situation, as the heavy shooting continued and everybody had to run for safety,” he said.

The road was deserted after the shooting, he said.

A student, Chimezie Okoh, who said he had passed through the road at about 6:45 p.m., after the shooting, told NAN he saw the bodies of the two slain police officers and the civilian.

“I saw a policeman whose head had been shattered with bullets and another policeman lying lifeless.

“And after passing a small bridge near the checkpoint, I saw a lifeless civilian, probably hit by stray bullet, in front of a building that looked like a Church,” Mr Okoh said.

The attack indicates that the security challenges in the South-east may be far from over, after the seeming restoration of security in the region which had been hit by deadly attacks on security agencies.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly accused the pro-Biafra group, IPOB, of being responsible for the attacks and the killings of the country’s security officials, but the group has denied the accusation.

IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu was recently “intercepted” in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria to face his trial for treason.

(NAN)