Two police officers on duty were shot dead on Saturday when gunmen attacked their police facility in Imo State, Nigeria’s South-east.
The attack happened at the Umuguma Police station in Owerri West council area of Imo State.
The gunmen came in two Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks and attacked the police station with an explosive device, according to a witness who narrated the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The witness said two officers were seen dead at the station after the attackers left for an unknown destination.
He further narrated that while one of the officers was killed and cut with a machete, the other victim died at a water dispensing stand where he went to drink water after he was shot in one of his legs while trying to escape.
A NAN reporter, who visited the scene, confirmed that no fewer than 12 vehicles parked at the police station and the roof of the station were burnt by the explosives used in attacking the station.
The police spokesperson in Imo State, CSP Michael Abattam, confirmed the incident, but said the gunmen were repelled by the officers on guard.
“I can confirm that there was an attack on the Umuguma police station, but the hoodlums were immediately repelled,” said Mr Abattam, a chief superintendent of police.
Mt Abattam said the police were on a manhunt for the attackers.
The attack has the trademark of IPOB, an outlawed group agitating for the creation of an independent state of Biafra from the South-east of Nigeria and some parts of the South-south.
(NAN)
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