Two armed hoodlums have been killed by joint security operatives after they attacked a police checkpoint in Isuofia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.
PUNCH Online gathered that the attack took place late on Thursday after the hoodlums were said to have laid siege to the area.
According to a source, who is a community leader, he disclosed on Friday that during the attack, a gun duel ensued. It was reported that one police officer was fatally wounded while one security operational vehicle was set ablaze.
The source said, “The information we got from residents around the scene was that the hoodlums, in their large numbers, entered the community on Thursday evening and laid siege in a nearby bush, waiting to attack the checkpoint and their other targets.
“The police resisted the attack, and the development led to a gun battle where gunshots were fired for several hours, sending panic and tension to residents of the area. The reason for the attack is unknown.
“The armed hoodlums fled the scene while abandoning their vehicle at the scene.
“We are yet to ascertain the total number of casualties, but reports emanating from the scene indicated that some of the hoodlums and security operatives were killed in the process and a vehicle burnt.”
Confirming the incident on Friday in a statement, the Spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, Tochukwu Ikenga, said the attack was true, and security operatives are currently combing nearby bushes for the possible arrest of the fleeing hoodlums.
Ikenga said the Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu, has condemned the act and viewed it as a test of Ndi Anambra’s collective resolve to work with the security forces to dislodge and eliminate criminal elements in the state.
He said the CP has assured the residents that the perpetrators would be apprehended, as he described the act as a test of the collective resolve of Ndi Anambra to work with security forces to dislodge the criminal elements in the state.
Ikenga recounted the incident, “One of the Anambra joint security team in the late evening of May 15, 2025, resisted an attack by armed criminals at the security checkpoint in Isuofia, Aguata LGA.
“Two of the armed hoodlums were neutralised in the process. Regrettably, one of the security operatives was fatally wounded, while one of the security operational vehicles was burnt by the bandits.
“During the ensuing gun battle and due to the superior fire of the joint security team, the criminals abandoned one of their operational vehicles, a Toyota Sienna, and fled the scene,” the PPRO said.
Ikenga also confirmed that normalcy has been restored to the area, and more armed operatives have been deployed.
