Gunmen open fire on police at Enugu checkpoint, kill two officers

Gunmen on Sunday killed two policemen on stop-and-search duty in the Kenyatta Market area of Enugu State.

Spokesperson for the police in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, said this in a statement obtained on Monday.

He said the armed hoodlums came in large numbers driving in SUVs and opened fire on the police operatives on routine stop-and-search duty in the area.

He said this led to a gun battle in which many of the hoodlums also sustained various degree of injuries.

He added that the hoodlums escaped with varying degrees of fatal gunshot injuries.

“Two of the police operatives, who sustained severe gunshot injuries, were moved to the hospital and they were confirmed dead and their corpses deposited in the mortuary for preservation,” he said.

The police spokesperson added that a manhunt had been launched for the hoodlums.

As a result of the intensive manhunt, he said the miscreants abandoned the black Mercedes Benz ML 350 4Matic Jeep they used for the operation on Enugu/Port-Harcourt Road.

The command spokesman noted that the vehicle, riddled with gunshots and blood stains, had been recovered.

“The recovery of the vehicle and the signs thereof corroborates preliminary investigation, which suggests that at least two of the hoodlums were neutralised,” he said.

Ndukwe said that the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Ammani, had ordered Tactical/Operational Operatives of the Command to sustain the manhunt operation.

He said that the commissioner warned that anything short of fishing out and bringing the assailants to book to assuage the loss of the two police operatives would not be accepted.

He said, “The CP, therefore, urges citizens of the state and the general public to assist the command with useful information that will aid the speedy arrest of the suspects.

“The state police boss also called on residents and owners of medical facilities in particular to report any person or persons, dead or alive, sighted with gunshots injuries to the police,” he said