Armed men kill policeman, torch police station, free suspects in Abia

A group of heavily armed men have stormed and set a police station ablaze in Abia State, killing one policeman and releasing detained suspects in the process.

The armed men also burnt all the operational vehicles parked within the premises of the Abayi police station in Aba.

The State Police Command Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the incident in a statement.

Mr. Ogbonna said the hoodlums, numbering over one hundred, threw petrol bombs into the station before gaining entrance.

They also freed some suspects in the police station and carted away arms and ammunitions.

According to him, some policemen on duty engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle resulting to the death of one policeman and some of the assailants.

Ogbonna assured residents to remain calm as some of the hoodlums had been arrested by police operatives.

A manhunt, he stressed, has been launched for the fleeing hoodlums, asking all health facilities in and around Aba to report to the police any one with bullet injuries that come for treatment.