Governor Hope Uzodimma has promised killers security operatives at Ehime Mbano area of Imo State will be fished out for appropriate sanctions.
Some members of the Joint Security Task force whose actual number and identities are yet to be established were killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen while on duty at the Umuezeala Owerre area of Ehime Mbano.
Uzodimma visited the scene of the incident accompanied by the Imo State Commissioner of Police and the Director, Department of State Services where he expressed sadness over the lives lost.
He assured that “the State Government in collaboration with security agencies would fish out the perpetrators with a view to bringing them to book.”
Governor Uzodimma urged leaders and people of communities in the area to avail the government and security agencies of vital information they need to do their work.
He also prayed for God’s mercy for the victims and the fortitude for the families to bear the irreplaceable loss of their loved ones in the incident.
Credible News reports that unidentified gunmen, on Tuesday, killed at least seven Joint Task Force operatives in an ambush at Umualumaku settlement in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo.
The News Agency of Nigeria learnt that the incident occurred at about midday, when the operatives arrived to mount a checkpoint.
The deceased operatives comprised personnel from the Nigeria Army, Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
An eyewitness account said that the assailants also set the two patrol vans belonging to the task force ablaze, together with the remains of the operatives.
“I heard gunshots for some minutes but didn’t know what was actually happening.
“Another driver told us that soldiers and policemen were killed and burnt in two Hilux Vans just a few meters ahead of us,” a commuter bus operator said.
