A vigilante operative was on Thursday killed when gunmen invaded a vigilante facility in Anambra State, Nigeria’s South-east.

The incident, PREMIUM TIMES gathered, happened early in the morning in Umunze Community, Orumba South Local Government Area of the state.

A resident of the community, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper that those attacked were members of Agunechemba, a vigilante group set up by the Anambra State Government in January.

The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday night.

Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said the gunmen also set five operational vehicles ablaze during the attack.

“The security operatives in an attempt to resist the gunmen during the gun duel recorded a fatal injury on one of the security operatives. Some parts of the security office also got burnt by the hoodlums,” he said.

He said a joint security team led by the police had taken over the area and needed support of communities around the area to fish out the gunmen.

The spokesperson said the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Ikioye Orutugu, has condemned the attack.

Mr Orutugu also appealed to residents of the community to support security operatives to track down the attackers.

Like other states in Nigeria’s South-east, security has deteriorated in Anambra State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.

Hundreds of people have been killed or abducted and several others injured in some of such attacks in the region.

The latest attack occurred about five weeks after gunmen attacked a vigilante office in Amesi, a community in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.

One person was killed in the attack which occurred in late April.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region.

But the group has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.

IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.