Gunmen destroy police headquarters in Anambra

Unidentified gunmen raided the Zone 13 police headquarters in Ukpo, near Awka, Anambra State, in the early hours of Monday, April 19, 2021, destroying cars and burning the facility to the ground.

Reports say two policemen and one of the gunmen died during the attack. Pulse has however not been able to independently verify casualty figures at the time of reporting.

There has been an escalation of violent attacks on police and correctional facilities, and a cloud of insecurity, in Nigeria's southeast in recent times.

On April 5, 2021, gunmen attacked the Owerri prison and freed over 1,800 inmates. The Imo State Police Command headquarters in Owerri and all vehicles parked within the facility were also torched.

Another police facility in Imo was razed three days later.

Nigeria's former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, blamed the Imo attacks on the secessionist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

IPOB has denied culpability for the coordinated attacks.

Suspected herdsmen have also attacked communities in Ebonyi.

In Abia, a statewide curfew persists.

“I call on everybody, irrespective of affiliations to come together and support government and security agencies to fight our common enemy. Those who seek to destroy what we have laboured to build must not be tolerated in any manner,” Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano, said recently.