Three policemen of the Enugu State command have been shot dead by unknown gunmen at Agbani, headquarters of Nkanu West Local Government of the state.
The incident, Newsmen learnt, occurred on Saturday morning at a roundabout near the Agbani Divisional Police station.
The police officers were on stop-and-search duty when the assailants sighted them and immediately opened fire, bringing down the three security operatives.
The attack occurred less than 24 hours after a former Commissioner in the state and Oji-River Local government’s chairman, Chief Gabriel Onuzulike and his elder brother were killed at their Nkpokolo-Achi hometown by gunmen.
Meanwhile, the State police command has disclosed that, following a distress call on the incident, two assailants were intercepted and neutralized by a joint Police/Army team.
This was disclosed by Daniel Ndukwe, the state police spokesman.
He said the team recovered an AK-47 rifle with two magazines loaded with ammunition, a Toyota Land Cruiser Jeep belonging to the deceased victims, a Toyota Camry car and a RAV4 Jeep.
Part of his statement read: “Pending the receipt of a detailed report, kindly be informed that preliminary report reveals that two (2) of the assailants, said to have infiltrated into Oji-River from neighbouring Anambra State community, in the evening hours of 18/11/2022, that attacked and murdered one Gabriel Onuzulike (identified as former Chairman of Oji-River LGA and Commissioner in Enugu State Government) and his brother at Nkpokolo-Achi in Oji-River LGA, were neutralized by a Joint Police/Army Team, who swiftly responded to a distress call on the incident and intercepted the hoodlums at Inyi community of the same LGA, as they were escaping into Anambra State.”
Meanwhile, the chase for the assailants, many of whom escaped into a nearby forest is ongoing, he added.