Gunmen yesterday killed two policemen in an attack on the Isu division in Imo State.

The hoodlums attacked the unfenced station from the rear with explosives.

They fired gunshots before setting the station ablaze.

The Imo Police Command spokesman, Michael Abattam, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), said the incident occurred on Sunday at about 11.30 pm.

The police accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its enforcement arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), of carrying out the attack.

Abattam said: “Armed men suspected to be members of the proscribed IPOB/ESN attacked the station from the rear axis because it has no perimeter wall.

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According to him, men of the division engaged the hoodlums in a gun duel.

“Due to the superior fire-power of the Police, the hoodlums were dealt a heavy blow and they scampered for safety, running in different directions with various degrees of gunshot wounds,” he said.

The spokesman said policemen chased the hoodlums to two hotels in Isu where1 7 males and a female suspect were arrested.

Items recovered include 12 unregistered motorcycles and two vehicles – a Lexus RX350 SUV and a Lexus RX330 SUV believed to have been used by the hoodlums.

The spokesman said the fire affected “some vehicles and part of the building of the division”.

“Unfortunately, two police officers paid the supreme price, while one sustained minor bullet injury on his head,” the police said.