Bandits armed with firearms attacked police and vigilante facilities in Abagana, Anambra State’s Njikoka Local Government Area, on Friday night.
According to a local source, there was a hail of bullets in the neighborhood at around 9 p.m., and the incident lasted for almost 45 minutes.
Nnaemeka Obitube, a local, claimed that at least three vigilante operatives were killed by the bandits, and several others, including Obitube and his friend Odi, who live nearby, also suffered gunshot wounds.
Obitube who said his arm, where he was brushed by a stray bullet had been treated, also narrated how the incident happened.
“It was very unimaginable. It was the Chelsea match that kept me outside at that time. The boys came prepared, they shot 3 vigilante operatives on arrival, then drove down to Enugwu-Ukwu, turned back and stopped in front of the police station and vigilante office.
“They set the inmates free and set the facilities ablaze.
“The corpses (of the slain vigilante operatives) are still lying by the roadside, along Union Bank to the secretariat. RIP to the dead who paid the ultimate price.”
He also claimed to know two of the slain vigilante operatives: “Just two known for now: Agu-Rice and Mr. Benjamin Ilonze. Others have badly shot faces, and can not be recognized.”
The state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga in his reaction said the vigilante operatives murdered by the bandits were two and not three.
He also added that police operatives stoutly resisted the bandits, causing them to flee. “They only threw petrol bombs on old structures in the station which affected the building partially,” Ikenga said.