Two policemen and three vigilante operatives otherwise known as Neighbourhood Watch Group have been confirmed dead after attack by a gang of rampaging hoodlums in Igga community in Uzo-Uwani local government area of Enugu State.
One villager was also confirmed dead when combined security operatives allegedly invaded the community following the attack on them by unknown gunmen.
It was gathered the hoodlums on Friday evening attacked and killed the security operatives at Ada Rice Production Nigeria Limited, a farm settlement close to the community following an operation by the suspected ESN members to comb the area to ward off invading herders who attacked the nearby Nimbo community earlier in the week.
Village sources told newsmen that a day after the attack on the security operatives, soldiers and army and policemen invaded the community Saturday night, burning houses and shooting sporadically.
A viral video also showed several houses, motorcycles and other properties burning in the raging flames while some shops were looted in the community.
A voice heard in the background of the video said: “This is Igga Community being burnt down by the military and the police from Adani Division.
“They are burning houses and shooting sporadically and on people. The community is in danger. Come to our aid. We are not safe. They are shooting at us”.
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The development, it was gathered, prompted a protest by women and children in the community, whose video also went viral on Sunday.
One of the villagers, who spoke to newsmen on the condition of anonymity, said that the security operatives razed several houses during the invasion of the community.
“Last night, army and police invaded Igga Community and burnt many houses and in the process, one of us, Richard Okoye died. He was running for his life when he fell and died.
“They came into the community yesterday (Saturday) at about 10 p.m. and stayed till 12 to 1 a.m burning houses and looting people’s shops. We all ran away and asked our youths not to retaliate”.
While informing those with alternatives had fled their homes, the villager added that those still taking refuge in the forests were now living in fear, not knowing whether the attack would continue.
Confirming the killing of the operatives, the Enugu Police Command said the unprovoked and unwarranted attack and gruesome murder of two Policemen and three Neighbourhood Watch Group members were carried out by “harboured criminal members of the Igga Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, in the evening hours of Friday, May 3, 2024”.
The command’s spokesman, Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed that on the same date, when the incident happened, a combined security team of three policemen and four Neighbourhood Watch Group provided security for a team of visiting investors from Lagos on a tour of a proposed agricultural investment site in the area.
“However, the team was ambushed and attacked by a large group of the criminal elements, who opened fire on them.
“Upon the unprovoked sudden attack, members of the team scampered for safety, while an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who led the team, one Neighbourhood Watch personnel, and the three (3) member team of investors were later rescued by a policemen team that immediately mobilized to the crime scene. But the eventually murdered members of the team went missing and unaccounted for.
“However, in the course of a full-scale investigation and a search and manhunt operation launched thereafter, three males suspected to have masterminded the attack were arrested.
“Their revelations during interrogation led to the discovery and recovery of the slain policemen and Neighborhood Watch Group members in the forest on May 4, 2024.
“Their lifeless bodies were taken to the hospital, confirmed dead by doctors, and deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy”.
