Separatists kill at least 11 people in southeast Nigeria, army says
Al Jazeera
Main separatist group in restive southeast region denies responsibility and blames ‘criminals’ for the deadly attack.
The Nigerian military has said that separatists killed at least 11 people in a “surprise” assault on a checkpoint in the country’s southeastern Abia State, the latest in a string of raids in the restive region.
The attack on Thursday, which the army blamed on the outlawed separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, claimed the lives of six civilians and five soldiers deployed at the Obikabia junction in the city of Aba, according to defence spokesperson Major-General Edward Buba.
“The military will be fierce in its response. We will bring overwhelming military pressure on the group to ensure their total defeat,” said Buba on Friday.
IPOB, which wants a separate state for the ethnic Igbo people in southeast Nigeria, denied it was behind attacks.
“We condemn the attack on military on duty in Aba,” spokesperson Emma Powerful said, blaming politically motivated “criminals”.
