According to an eyewitness, the IPOB operatives drove the gunmen’s bodies in a Hilux van and fired randomly as they approached the Onitsha-Owerri expressway.

The eyewitness said, “The incident happened at Akwa village in Ihiala during a clash between IPOB and unknown gunmen.

“The gunmen have a camp at a place called Oseakwa from where they have been terrorizing Ihiala, Okija, Uli, and other neighboring communities.

“For some time now, the gunmen have been disrupting burials and demanding to be settled before any ceremony is organized. They are also the group that has been kidnapping people and snatching cars.

“On June 17, IPOB swooped on the gunmen in their camp and five people were killed during the shootout. IPOB operatives loaded the corpses in a Hilux van and paraded them around the villages.”

On Friday, several persons alleged to be Ebubeagu members fought with gunmen at Ihiala during a funeral ceremony, but no one was killed.

According to the eyewitness, the burial had to be canceled as a result of the conflict, and the corpse was returned to the morgue.

He said, “It was terrible. What happened was that one Ekene who is a businessman in Ihiala was burying his late brother and his in-laws from Imo State came with members of Ebubeagu to protect them, only to be confronted by people who said they are unknown gunmen in charge of Ihiala.

“The argument of the gunmen was that Ebubeagu people ought not to enter Anambra State when there are people controlling the area.

”The incident happened at the village called Umuojimaka in Akwa and when the shooting became so much, the family took back the corpse to the mortuary. No new date has been fixed for the burial.”

Mr Tochukwu Ikenga, Public Relations Officer for the Anambra State Police, stated that he had yet to receive a report on the Ihiala incidents.