Imo: Gunmen attack checkpoint, kill 2 police officers, VIO personnel
Gunmen killed two armed police officers who were on duty and a vehicle inspection officer on Wednesday when they attacked a police checkpoint at Umuagbom Ihitte along the Owerri/Aba highway.
The officers on duty were reportedly shot and killed by the gunmen between the hours of 10 and 11 in the morning, according to information gathered by this Online newspaper.
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Additionally, according to reports, when the gunmen started shooting the other police officers and VIO employees who were on duty at the time fled for their lives.
Before shooting the police, the gunmen reportedly warned some passengers to flee the area or prepare for “anything they see.” As soon as the ‘bad boys,’ dressed in all-black, attacked, it was learned.
The gunmen opened fire when they lost patience with the police officers and could no longer wait in a long line of cars that had been stopped and parked in the wrong place while the police officers were conducting stop and searches and their VIO counterparts were inspecting the cars on the road.
The sporadic shootings in the late morning created chaos, and some unlucky drivers and commuters who were stopped at the checkpoint abandoned their cars and their belongings to flee for cover in the nearby bush.
The broad day shootings also caused residents of the nearby villages in the Ihitte and Umuowa communities in the Ngor Okpala LGA to flee their homes out of fear of stray bullets while the shooting continued.
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The always-busy Owerri/Aba highway was immediately deserted by drivers as they detoured to the rough old road as a result of the bloody attack, according to a source who wished to remain anonymous.
Upon learning of the incident, the men of the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, who were manning the military checkpoint at Airport Junction, Umuowa, reportedly rushed to the scene, but the thugs had already fled, leaving their dead victims in pools of blood.
The remains of the victims have been evacuated to an undisclosed morgue, according to a villager by the name of Amarachi, who claimed that police and military patrol teams have been on the prowl in the area ever since the incident.
When contacted by phone, ASP Henry Okoye, the Imo State Public Relations Officer (PRO), was unable to confirm the incident.
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