Gunmen caused pandemonium in Imo State as they razed the Isiala Mbano Police Divisional Headquarters situated at Umuelemai in Imo State on Saturday night.
The assailants invaded the armoury and freed suspects in the detention facility and took away arms.
Reports say the gunmen sealed off the divisional headquarters at Umueze Road and opened fire on arrival.
The invaders sacked police officers on duty, freed suspects, invaded the facility’s arms storage department before setting it ablaze, Punch reports.
The gunmen inflicted gunshot injuries on four policemen while they stayed back to supervise the burning of the police station.
“The gunmen came, condoned off the divisional headquarters and immediately opened fire on the policemen on duty. This was after they had freed all the suspects and collected all the arms. Afterwards, they set it ablaze using petrol to ignite the fire. This is very unfortunate,” a source who witnessed the incident said.
The attack was confirmed by the Interim Management Committee chairman of Isiala Mbano LGA, Chika Okoroike. He said that he was facilitating the rescue mission.
He blamed the removal of soldiers from Anara town 24 hours before the attack while noting efforts to secure the return of the soldiers were rebuffed.
The police spokesperson in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, also confirmed the attack on the division.
This makes it the fourth police divisional headquarters that had been attacked since February after Obowo, Aboh Mbaise and Ihitte/Uboma divisions were attacked, respectively.