Two officers shot dead as another police station burnt in Abia

Gunmen suspected to be militants of the proscribed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) have killed two officers and burnt down another police station in Abia State.

Apumiri Ubakala Police Station in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia was attacked in the early hours of Monday.

The affected station is situated within the popular Ubakala market.

A police officer told Daily Trust that before the incident, the police command had received intelligence of an impending attack and was advised to either close down the station or beef up security but none of this was done.

This is the latest attack on government facilities in the South-East.

The spokesman for Abia Police Command, SP Godfrey Ogbonna, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Umuahia, said the remains of the officers had been deposited at the mortuary.

Ogbonna said the hoodlums attacked the station around 12.10am with explosives.

According to him, the operatives who were deployed to reinforce security at the station tried to repel the assailants.

“In the process, we lost two of our men,” he said, pointing out that the number of the attackers were yet to be ascertained.

A resident of the area said: “The midnight attack caused serious panic.

“We were asleep when, suddenly, we began to hear the sound of serious gunshots.

“Everybody in my house was woken up by the sound and then came an explosion, followed by fire,” an eyewitness said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, police said no arrest had been made but that full investigations were ongoing to get the perpetrators of the attacks, which had left many of its men either dead or with gunshot wounds.