Gunmen men suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect have attacked the Gwoza Divisional Police Station in Borno State, killing the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and his deputy, alongside a number of civilians caught in the crossfire which occurred at 9pm Monday.
A bank located near the police station in Gwoza was also attacked by the hoodlums using explosives and petrol bombs.
The attack on the police station occurred just a day after 20 suspected members of Boko Haram were killed in a foiled attack on a military site by officers of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the state.
Witnesses said the gunmen used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs in torching the police station and the Bank, before carting away undisclosed sums of money from the bank.
Gwoza is a local government area of Borno State and it lies at the border with Cameroun, and 135 kilometres south-east of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Sources at the Gwoza General Hospital who did not want to be identified confirmed that the bodies of the DPO and seven others were brought in by the police in two Hilux patrol vehicles for deposition and subsequent identification.
The gunmen, according to the sources, got into the bank, after the bank manager was dragged from his house at gunpoint to open the bank’s vault, before they carting away undisclosed sums of money, after which they torched the bank with explosives at about 10.25pm.
The Borno State Police Command spokesman, Gideon Jibrin who confirmed the incident said no arrest has so far been made but investigation has commenced to trail the gunmen.
Many top police officers have been killed in recent times, raising concerns about the safety of the ordinary Nigerian. Over the weekend, the Kwara State Commissioner of Police was also murdered by unknown gunmen in his country home in Enugu State.
