From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha and Emmanuel Uzor, Awka
A Police corporal was killed yesterday following the attack and bombing of Police Divisional Headquarters of Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State by suspected secessionist gunmen.
The gunmen also attacked the Oba Civic Centre managed by the Town Union leadership of the community even as further casualties could not be ascertained.
Sources said the gunmen, heavily armed, stormed the area in the early hours of yesterday launching ferocious attack on the police division.
Though no group has claimed responsibility and reason for the attacks currently unknown, there were speculations that it might be connected to the declaration by a secessionist leader Simon Ekpa, who recently declared a month-long hostility against government establishments in the South-East, starting from August 28, 2024.
Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident in a statement where he disclosed that a joint security force comprising the Army, Navy, Civil Defence, and other agencies were already conducting a joint operation in Oba and its environs.
“Following, an attack in the early hours of today, September 3,on Oba police divisional headquarters and Oba Civic Center
“The suspected armed secessionist group started shooting sporadically in an attempt to gain entrance to the police station and threw petrol bombs at the security facility which made some of the offices catch up with fire including the Oba Civic Center.
“Unfortunately, a police corporal who was fatally wounded paid the supreme price, while the fire was put out with the help of other policemen on duty and the joint security responding team.
“The Commissioner of Police CP Nnaghe Obono Itam, while condemning the act, described the invasion of security facilities and hostility towards security agents as an attack on the soul of the Nation and vowed to bring those behind the unholy act to book.”