Two gunmen and a security operative were killed in Anambra State on Thursday during a deadly shootout between security operatives and some assailants in the state.
The incident happened at a checkpoint manned by a joint security team in Isuofia, a community in Aguata Local Government Area of the state.
The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, said in a statement on Friday that some gunmen had attacked the security operatives at the checkpoint, who responded to the attack.
“Two of the armed hoodlums were neutralised in the process. Regrettably, one of the security operatives was fatally wounded, while one of the security operational vehicles was burnt by the bandits,” said Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police.
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He did not mention the security agencies involved in the shootout.
The police spokesperson said that during the shootout, the armed men abandoned a Toyota Sienna and fled the scene due to the superior firepower of the joint security team.
Mr Ikenga said calm has now returned to the area and that security has been reinforced with more armed operatives currently combing nearby bushes for possible arrest of the fleeing gunmen.
He said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ikioye Orutugu, has condemned the attack.
Mr Orutugu, according to the statement, described the incident as “a test of Anambra residents’ collective resolve to work with the security forces to dislodge and eliminate” criminals in the state.
The commissioner assured that the state police command will track down the attackers
Increased attacks
Like other states in Nigeria’s South-east, security has deteriorated in Anambra State with frequent attacks by armed persons.
The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.
Hundreds of people have been killed or abducted and several others injured in some of these attacks in the region.
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The latest attack happened the same day gunmen killed a lawyer and his client in Egbebelu village of Nanka, a community in Orumba North Local Government Area of the state.
The Nigerian government has repeatedly accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region.
However, the group has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.
IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria
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