ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Militants enforcing a separatist blockade in Nigeria’s southeastern region attacked security forces deployed to restore order, killing five soldiers and six civilians during a firefight, the Nigerian military said Friday.
The soldiers were attacked on Thursday at a checkpoint in the town of Aba, Abia State, where separatists were imposing a lockdown to commemorate the short-lived Republic of Biafra, which in 1967 fought and lost a civil war. deadly to become independent from Nigeria, defense spokesman. Major General Edward Buba said in a statement.
The separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) often uses blocks press for the creation of an independent country in the southeast, decades after the war that killed at least a million people. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent years in violent lockdowns and other attacks blamed on the group, which claims its separatist campaign is peaceful.
The Nigerian army sent soldiers to enforce peace in the city of Aba when militants “carried out a surprise attack” on its security outpost, the defense spokesman said. “Six civilians (also) were killed in the crossfire,” Buba said.
He added that the Nigerian military, overwhelmed by the other security crises in other parts of the country, they did not relent in hunting down the perpetrators. “We would bring overwhelming military pressure on the group to ensure their total defeat,” he said.
In addition to its separatist campaign, the IPOB group also demands the release of its leader Nnamdi Kanuwho is being prosecuted on treason and terrorism charges.
Southeast Nigeria, once one of the safest in the country, is now facing violence and deepening poverty as violent lockdowns harm economic activities in the region.
