Gunmen kill five policemen, couple in Imo State

Gunmen in their numbers, yesterday, invaded a canteen and shop at Ngor Opkala Junction in Imo State, killing five policeman and a couple, who owned the shop.

The deceased shop owners were identified as Mr. and Mrs. Chinaka Nwagu, from Amankwo, Okpala community. They were said to have relocated from Lagos recently to fend for themselves. 

Sources said the deceased police officers, who were on patrol, had parked their Hilux van and went to eat at the canteen when the hoodlums, unsuspectingly, invaded eatery. As they were eating, the gunmen opened fire on the first three and killed them. The other two ran into a shop for safety. The hoodlums pursued them to the shop, and killed them alongside with the couple, bringing to a total of seven persons shot dead.

Their guns, according to the source, were allegedly carted away by their killers. The bodies were later deposited to the morgue. Many persons, who witnessed the bodies of the officers, as they were carried along Wetheral Road, Owerri to the morgue, expressed misgivings over the incident.

A witness told The Guardian: “We saw them as they were carried in a Hilux van through the Fire Service, by Wetheral Junction, towards the headquarters, we were touched. Their bodies were covered. It is unfortunate.

Efforts made to reach the Police spokesperson in the state, Henry Okoye, was not successful as he did not pick his call. It would be recalled that 13 police officers and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps personnel were killed gruesomely at the same junction. A female police sergeant, five NSCDC officers, who were on patrol had been ambushed and killed recently at different locations around the area.