By HEADLINENEWS.NEWS correspondent
Eleven people, including a pregnant woman, were killed when gunmen, suspected to be warlords from a neighbouring community, attacked the residents of Inikiri, a village in Ezza Effium Community, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria’s south-east.
The incident happened on Wednesday, HEADLINENEWS.NEWS gathered.
Ezza Effium and Uffiom Communities in the Ohaukwu Local Government of the state have been engulfed in dispute for some years now, which has resulted in the loss of several lives, displacement of hundreds of people and destruction of properties worth billions of naira.
How it happened
Residents told HEADLINENEWS.NEWS correspondents that the hoodlums invaded the community at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday and shot sporadically till 6 p.m. of the same day, killing the victims at the spot.
Children between the ages of two and 12 were among the 11 persons killed during the attack, according to the residents.
The identities of the attackers were yet to be ascertained. However, some residents of Ezza Effium claimed the hoodlums were Uffiom warriors.
Meanwhile, the Ezza Effium Community has a joint military and police checkpoint, which the state government set up for peacekeeping in the area.
But one of the residents, Chuks Nwafor, told this newspaper that the attackers operated without a challenge from both the soldiers and police operatives stationed in the area.
The residents said a Primary Healthcare Center was built for the community by an international organisation, and over 30 residential houses were razed during the attack.
Police speak
When contacted on Friday afternoon, the police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Joshua Ukandu, told HEADLINENEWS.NEWS correspondent that police authorities in the state had initiated efforts to investigate what happened in the community.
“We have received the information (about the attack), and we are working to confirm what happened,” Mr Ukandu, a deputy superintendent of police, said.
On the alleged failure of some soldiers to confront the attackers, the police spokesperson said there was no evidence that the attack happened close to the military checkpoint.
“So, I don’t think that the incident happened within the area where the mobile police officers and military men are present, but we are still trying to assess what happened,” he added.
