Imo state police command says it has arrested over eighteen suspected killers of a Divisional Police Officer and an inspector at the Ahiara junction, in the Ahiazu Mbaise local government area of the state.

The policemen were killed on Monday by the gunmen , with a civilian also killed by a stray bullet from the gunmen.

Spokesperson for the Imo police command Henry Okoye in a statement, said the command and sister agencies including soldiers of 54 artillery brigade intensified the search operation in the forests and various communities, which led to the arrest of over eighteen suspects.

According to the police spokesperson, the suspects are believed to be members of the Indigeneous People of Biafra IPOB .

The DPO and inspector were said to have been attacked and killed at a fueling station when they wanted to buy petrol, before hoodlums with military camouflage and other outfit swooped on them.

The new Imo police commissioner Danjuma Aboki had in a show of force visited Mbaise to read the riot act to criminals before the attack which took many by surprise