Gunmen have killed two policemen and one civilian and set their corpses ablaze in Anambra State.
According to a statement on Saturday by the state police spokesman, Tochukwu Ikenga, the incident happened at Amukabia, Achalla, Awka South Local Government Area of the state.
Ikenga said that the two officers were among a six- man police team who had gone to recover a Toyota Sienna Space Wagon vehicle earlier snatched by the hoodlums.
According to him, the gunmen snatched the vehicle at a gun point on July 9 in Oy-Agu Abagana, a community in Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Ikenga said that the officers embarked on the operation accompanied by an expert in car-tracking, but were ambushed by the gunmen who captured the two officers and the car tracker.
He said though police operatives killed some of the gunmen and destroyed three of their camps during a counter operation on Friday, “unfortunately, some of the hoodlums escaped with bullet wounds, having already murdered their captives and set their bodies ablaze.”
The police spokesman said the remains of the officers and the civilian had been recovered and deposited in a morgue.
He said that one human skull, a locally made rocket propelled grande RPG launcher, two (RPG) bombs, one single-barrel long gun, empty chain of bullet, one Toyota Sienna and one Mercedes Benz SUV, were among the items recovered from the gunmen.
Other items recovered from them include two cylinders, a huge quantity of hard drugs, a police beret and a police belt, Ikenga said, adding
that police have begun an operation to track down the fleeing suspects.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Echeng Echeng, has condoled with the families of the slain civilian and the two police operatives, Mr Ikenga said.
Mr Echeng described the incident as a “classic example of the risk and sacrifices” the police are exposed to in the task of serving and protecting the country.
The police commissioner assured residents of the state that the police were intensifying efforts towards “reclamation and domination” of all areas occupied by hoodlums in the state.
He vowed that the hoodlums and their accomplices would be apprehended by the police and brought to justice.
