Gunmen early today bombed the headquarters of Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State and killed three vigilante operatives .
The incident happened at about 2 a.m.
The gunmen were said to have thrown Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, into the council headquarters, destroying properties and killing the security officials.
Several buildings in the secretariat were razed in the attack. These include the administrative block of the council headquarters, a primary healthcare office and an office of the Independent National Electoral Commission; the office of the National Youth Service Corps, an education office and an office of the National Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC.
Tochukwu Ikenga, police spokesperson in Anambra State, confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday.
He said police operatives arrived in the area in response to a distress call at 2:55 a.m.
The gunmen he said had already killed the three vigilante operatives and also beheaded one of them before the arrival of the operatives.
“One of the attackers was neutralized,” the police spokesperson said, adding that the presence of the operatives prevented the hoodlums from causing further damage.
The Police spokesman said some of the gunmen fled the scene with bullet wounds when they were challenged by the operatives.
“The bodies of the victims were recovered and joint operations are still ongoing,” he said.
Two locally made IED launchers, seven undetonated IEDs, 40 pieces of live cartridges, 15 live 7.62 MM AK-47 ammunition, knives and charms were among the items recovered from the gunmen during the operation.