Villagers have fled and abandoned their homes in Ihitte Afoukwu and Okpokunme in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo state after armed men in security attire invaded their communities and set ablaze houses.
According to Vanguard, an eyewitness claimed that the operation which started on Saturday night was targeted on about three persons and that they were able to capture some and others ran away.
He added that fire from some of the houses set ablaze unfortunately travelled into other houses around the affected areas and damaged hundreds of properties.
Vanguard reported that a source from the village said, “Houses belonging to one Chinonso Madu, in White Afokwu, in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo state, was razed down by men in security uniform, they came in 10 vehicles. The most painful was that other houses were affected and they got burnt.
“They came early hours of Sunday morning started shooting everywhere they entered into our community and everybody started running.
“Many of us started running even in the process we got injured. Many people abandoned their homes and ran into the bush to avoid gunshots that were coming from all angles.
“Even those who were coming back from the church as of the time the incident was happening ran into other villages when they heard gunshots coming towards their directions.”
Another source said, “This operation started on Saturday night when they were pursuing some of these boys and some of them were captured. I don’t know what they were doing but you will notice that these people in a long security convoy have been patrolling in these our area. They went straight to the houses of the people they targeted and captured some others ran away.”
The State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Michael Abttam, said: “I don’t have any information that it was security operatives that went to that operation.”
Discussion about this post