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A police officer has been confirmed dead following an attack by unidentified gunmen in Imo State. The incident, which occurred early Sunday morning, targeted a police checkpoint along the Okigwe-Umuahia Road in Okigwe Local Government Area.
According to reports gathered by The Eastern Updates on Monday, the assailants, believed to be affiliated with a proscribed secessionist group, stormed the checkpoint around 9 a.m., catching the officers unprepared. They fatally shot one officer and abducted another before fleeing with the officers’ rifles.
The constable killed in the attack was identified as Oluebube, while the abducted officer has been named as Assistant Superintendent of Police Casmir, who remained missing as of Monday morning.
Eyewitness accounts suggest the attackers swiftly overpowered the security personnel before vanishing into nearby communities. Shortly after the incident, a militant group known as the Biafra Liberation Army released a video on 𝕏 claiming responsibility for the assault.
The Imo State Police Command has yet to issue an official statement, but security operations are reportedly underway to track down the perpetrators and locate the missing officer.
In the said video, an unidentified man, believed to be a member of the group, was seen reporting the incident to an unnamed leader whom he addressed as the “Major-General of Biafra Liberation Army.”
In a video released after the deadly assault, a masked militant was seen brandishing two rifles claimed to have been seized from the officers during the attack. He confirmed that one policeman was killed in the operation.
Further findings indicate that the Biafra Liberation Army operates as the militant arm of the Autopilot faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a breakaway group led by Simon Ekpa, a Finland-based separatist currently facing terrorism-related charges in that country.
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Speaking on the incident, the spokesperson for the Imo State Police Command, Henry Okoye, attributed the attack to members of the proscribed IPOB and its armed affiliate, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Okoye, who holds the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, told reporters on Monday that a full-scale manhunt had been launched to apprehend the attackers. He noted that the viral video released by the group provided further evidence linking them to the crime.
He assured residents that tactical teams were actively combing suspected hideouts to restore calm and secure the release of the missing officer.
