Again, gunmen kill two police officers in Cross River

Unidentified gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday killed two police officers in Cross River State, Nigeria’s South-south, bringing to six the number of officers killed in the last six days in the state.

Four police officers were killed recently, on February 25, in Calabar, by some gunmen.

The police spokesperson, Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the latest killing to PREMIUM TIMES, said the attack occurred in Obubra, in the central part of Cross River State.

“We lost two of our policemen, one is being hospitalised,” said Ms Ugbo, a deputy superintendent of police.

“Early this morning, the CP has deployed men, so our tactical team is there, we are waiting for the outcome of the operation.

“The information we got was that during the operation (attack by the gunmen), the bad boys would shout one particular thing – IPOB and all that.

PREMIUM TIMES asked the police spokesperson if she thought these were coordinated attacks on the police in Cross River State.

“We wouldn’t know what these people want because some days ago some of our men were killed in Calabar, and now this one is happening. I think it’s a planned thing, they are up to something which we need to tackle quickly.

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“But if we don’t get information, how are we going to tackle it, this thing could continue to reoccur,” she responded.

There have been strings of attacks lately on police officers and police facilities in some states within Nigeria’s South-east and South-south regions.

If the deadly attacks on the Nigerian police continues, some security experts believe, it could complicate the already deteriorating security situation in the country.

Nigeria is already grappling with Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, banditry in some parts of the north, kidnapping and the perennial clashes between herders and farmers in several other parts of the country.