Gunmen have attacked a police checkpoint in Enugu State, killing three officers, police and residents said on Sunday — the latest violence in a region where separatist tensions often flare, IgbereTV reports
“We lost officers in the attack by the criminals, who also took away some weapons,” a senior police officer, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
The gunmen stormed the police checkpoint at Agbani in Enugu State and opened fire on the officers, state police spokesman Daniel Ndukwe said.
Ndukwe said the dead were “three police operatives performing stop-and-search duty”.
He blamed the attack on “armed hoodlums suspected to be IPOB/ESN renegades, numbering about 15, who operated in a Lexus Jeep and Toyota Tundra vehicles”.
He said police were on the trail of the attackers.
Local resident Francis Nwachukwu said the policemen were taken by surprise.
“The incident happened around 8:00 am. The policemen were busy extorting motorists at the checkpoint when they were attacked,” Nwachukwu told AFP.
“At the end of the shooting, the lifeless bodies of three policemen were lying on the ground,” he added.
No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack, which occurred a day after a former local government commissioner and his brother were shot dead in Enugu State
