Six persons were reportedly killed when gunmen and members of the Awgbu Community vigilante group clashed in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Trouble started when the vigilante group in the neighboring Amaokpala community informed its Awgbu colleagues that gunmen had attacked their homes and are heading to Awgbu.

The security operatives in Awgbu Community laid ambush on the gunmen and apprehended two of the gunmen and burnt them alive.

But on Thursday, the few escaped gunmen came to Awgbu town in a reprisal attack on the community killing three persons in the process.

It was gathered that the gunmen, during the attack, also set the market on fire. Three of the persons who died during the attack were said to have been gunned down by the gunmen, while they burnt the other person alive, right inside his shop where he was selling fuel.

It was gathered that the gunmen, on Thursday night, stormed the community for retaliation. They were said to have first visited the office of the local vigilante of the community but found no one there, which made them rush to the Eke Awgbu Market and start shooting sporadically, during which they gunned down three civilians, set a portion of the Market on fire and also set one person (identified as Mr. Ofor) ablaze inside his shop.

The source further hinted that the local vigilante eventually came to the Market at about midnight, long after the gunmen had left.

Although there is a police station in the Awgbu community, the source revealed that the station had not been operational for a long time now, given that the police officers attached to the station fled since the surge of gunmen attacks in different parts of the State.

All efforts made by this reporter to get the reactions of the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Anambra State, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, proved abortive, as he was yet to respond to enquiries sent to him on the incident, as at the time of this publication. (New Telegraph: Text, Excluding Headline)

Update news