BEVERLY HILLS, April 15, (THEWILL) – Three police officers have been killed by gunmen in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
The assailants, who pretended to be conducting a burial rally, opened fire on the police officers who were on a “stop and search” operation.
Spokesperson of the Ebonyi State Police Command, DSP Loveth Odah, in a statement on Thursday, said the incident happened on Wednesday night along Onuebonyi/Nwezenyi road in Izzi Local Government Area of the state.
The statement said: “They were inside three motorcycles, three tricycles, and twoSiennabuses. In the process of the police officers checking them, they opened fire and killed three of our men at the checking point.
“Also, on Thursday last week, with the same operational pattern at Umuoghara in Ezza North Local Government Area of the state, some group opened fire on police officers but due to their smartness, our officers repelled them and arrested two and those two are helping the police,” she explained.
The attack is the most recent in what appears to be a rising pattern of attacks on security personnel in the South-East.
The zone has recorded an escalating number of violent attacks on police formations, one of which resulted in a jailbreak in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.
In the area, police stations have also been attacked, with several officers killed.
Governors in the South-East recently declared the formation of a joint security force codenamed “Ebubeagu” to combat the rising insecurity in the region.
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