Soldiers among 11 killed by separatist militants in southeast Nigeria

CHINEDU ASADU, Associated Press

48 mins ago

FILE – People walk across a normally busy highway during a curfew imposed by separatists in Enugu, Nigeria, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. Militants enforcing a separatist curfew in Nigeria’s southeast region attacked security forces deployed to restore order, killing five soldiers and six civilians during a gunbattle, the Nigerian military said Friday, May 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Militants enforcing a separatist curfew in southeastern Nigeria attacked security forces sent to restore order, killing five soldiers and six civilians in a shootout, the Nigerian military said Friday.

The soldiers were attacked on Thursday at a checkpoint in the town of Aba, Abia state, where separatists were enforcing a curfew commemorating the short-lived Republic of Biafra, which gained independence from Nigeria in a deadly civil war in 1967, defense spokesman Major General Edward Buba said in a statement.

The separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) often uses lockdowns to demand the creation of an independent country in the southeast, decades after a war that left at least a million people dead. Hundreds have been killed in recent years in such violent lockdowns and other attacks blamed on the group, which claims its secession campaign is peaceful.

The Nigerian army had deployed soldiers to maintain peace in the city of Aba when militants launched “a surprise attack” on their security post, the defense spokesman said. “Six civilians were also killed in the crossfire,” Buba said.

He added that the Nigerian military, overwhelmed by other security crises in other parts of the country, would not let up in its hunt for the perpetrators. “We will apply overwhelming military pressure on the group to ensure its complete defeat,” he said.

In addition to its separatist campaign, the IPOB group is also demanding the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is accused of treason and terrorism.

Nigeria’s southeast, once one of the safest in the country, is now battling violence and increasing poverty as brutal curfews disrupt economic activity in the region.