Gunmen continued their attack on police formations and other facilities in Abia State continued, on Wednesday night, when they razed parts of Bende Local Government Area headquarters and the adjourning police station.

Reports from Bende said the gunmen stormed the area in the night of Wednesday, shot into the air to scare away people before starting the operation that lasted about 45 minutes.

It was gathered  that during the operation, one policeman was shot in the leg, while the entire building was razed down.

A source said suspects detained at the station were freed by the gunmen, while two vehicles and three motorcycles were destroyed at the police station.

The source further disclosed that after the police station operation, the gunmen moved over to the nearby local government headquarters, where they burnt the council’s hall.

The gunmen were said to have equally set ablaze the council’s plant house, burning all the generators to ashes.

As at yesterday morning, there were reports of heavy presence of soldiers who had arrived the area to restore normalcy.

Wednesday night’s attack brings to four the number of such public facilities that have been attacked in the state within three days.

Spokesman of the state command, Godfrey Ogbonna, confirmed the attacks.

He said the hoodlums later released criminal suspects, who were detained at the station.

“They also burnt two vehicles, including the Divisional Police Officer’s Highlander Jeep, and three motorcycles, parked at the station,” he said.

Ogbonna said that it was not clear how the bandits arrived at the place in their numbers.

“We do not know yet how they all gathered to execute the attack at the station. May be they parked their vehicles away from their target and walked through footpaths to the place.”

He said the command had embarked on full investigations into the incident and other recent gunmen attacks in different parts of the state.

Sun