BARELY 48 hours after the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ogbonna Onovo, ordered that police checkpoints be dismantled in all the states of the South-East,

the Anambra State police command has lost six men, who were killed by suspected armed robbers on Wednesday night.

Although the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Philemon Leha, confirmed that three of his men were killed in the attack, unconfirmed sources said that six policemen lost their lives in the attack, which occurred at Amichi, in Nnewi South Local Government Area of the state.

Three members of a vigilance group at the same Amichi were also gunned down by the robbers when they ran into the vigilance team as they were fleeing from the town.

It was gathered that the armed robbers, numbering about 10, had taken the policemen unawares and rained bullets on them at about 9:30 p.m. and killed three of them in the process.

The incident also left several others injured among both the policemen and the vigilance team members.

Leha told newsmen in Awka, on Thursday, that two policemen were also injured in the attack and that they had been taken from a hospital in Amichi to the teaching hospital in Nnewi.

According to Leha, the armed robbers had entered Anambra State from Orlu in Imo State, pointing out that they were believed to be on the trail of their unnamed victim, who he said had gone for a church programme in the town.

He, however, hinted that the victim was a school principal in one of the popular schools in Anambra State. He was pursued when he stopped to buy banana at one of the junctions.

The Anambra State police boss said although the robbers escaped, his men had, however, been deployed in all the necessary parts of the state to ensure that such criminals did not go free.

Police sources said that the commissioner of police had travelled to the town at about 6:00 a.m. for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident, as well as to see his men who were injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, three people were, in the early hours of Thursday, killed and two others wounded as a car rammed into a stationary articulated truck on the Third Mainland Bridge.

The deceased and the injured victims were all occupants of a Honda Acura salon car, which crashed at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) spot of the bridge.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the accident occurred around 2.00 a.m.

The occupants of the car, including the driver, were reportedly returning from a programme on the Island of Lagos State, when they crashed into the stationary truck.

The head of operations in charge of the Lagos State Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Hygenus  Omege, while speaking with newsmen, confirmed that his office was contacted around 5.00 a.m.

The FRSC officer said residents of the area contacted  his office, adding that by the time men of the corps  arrived at the scene of the incident, three people had died.

He added that two other occupants of the car, who were still alive when the FRSC officials arrived, were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Omege said information available to him had it that the remains of the dead occupants of the vehicle had, on Thursday morning, been buried according to Islamic rites.

The image maker in charge of the state police command, Mr Frank Mba, confirmed the incident to the Nigerian Tribune and said the police had begun investigation into the incident.

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